Born in Kazan (Tatarstan), Maria Lezhnina`s experience is particularly diverse, falling between research projects for the Swiss landscape to an exhibition at the Italian National Museum of 21st Century Arts on the impact of new energy systems, then teaching architecture and knowledge of space to the children with the Finnish school ARKKI, and working for design practices in Moscow (Russia), Mendrisio (Switzerland), Genova, Milan (Italy), Baku (Azerbaijan), and Taipei (Taiwan). This interdisciplinary background has made her interested in cross cultural reading of space. Indeed, her work aims at altering perception of the environment that it inhabits, either through reflexive physicality or unusual architectural structure, being characterised by a deep-rooted interest in the relationship between architecture, landscape and human perception. She previously lectured at Huafan University, and was involved in didactic activities at Shih Chien University, Taipei.
`marble is a state of matter`, artist book, 72 pages, 2019
The book collects the outcomes of an investigation of environmental dynamics developed for the Taiwan Culture Expo 2019. This investigation used the water surface as sensor. By the means of ebru painting techniques, color was left over the water for a period of time and exposed to environmental agents. The shape taken by the color is then recorded by some sort of photograms. Within the book, the resulting images are organized with text, archival images, and other pictures by the author so to form a narrative that aims to emotionally link the various scales of our material reality.
