The artist took sand from what will be the site of the proposed ELT (Extremely Large Telescope — also known as Solaris) at Atacama desert in Chile, which was previously a site of importance to indigenous people. The sand was used to make crude glass by concentrating the heat of the sun’s energy through a series of lenses. The glass produced has then been shaped into a unique lens through which the desert is photographed. As Santillan describes it, ‘for an instant, the desert looks at itself’