KMNCHK ObsLam is the result of a speculative technology development process,
evolving from the pioneering KMNCHK ScanLab, a project launched in 2019 to capture
unprecedented images of the ephemeral kamanchaka fog1. Using an experimental scanning
method—a vertical sheet of light slicing through atmospheric density, documented in
sequenced frontal photographs and video—ScanLab operated as a mobile, open-air
laboratory, reimagining the relationship between landscape, technology, and perception.
Deployed across the Alto Patache Fog Oasis—a landmark site for fog harvesting and
ecological research in Chile, overseen by the Atacama UC Station2
—ScanLab dissolved
boundaries between scientific imaging and media art. Supported by the Fondart Nacional
funding program, it swiftly became a touchstone in the intersectional dialogue between art,
science, and ecology, gaining recognition at influential platforms such as Ars Electronica
Festival (Linz, 2020), Bienal de Artes Mediales (Santiago, 2019), and Non-Extractive
Architecture(s) (2024).
Building on the conceptual foundation of ScanLab, ObsLam upgrades it into a fixed,
autonomous, and interactive apparatus that directly engages with the kamanchaka fog at
Alto Patache. Conceived as a laminar observatory, it allows Atacama UC Station users and
visitors to visualize the fog's chaotic movement patterns through a steerable vertical plane
of light, slicing a dynamic, 5000-meter-high section through the atmosphere. This luminous
intervention renders the colloidal flow tactile, transforming the fog's spectral presence into
a sublime3 encounter amidst the coastal desert's veiled nocturnal landscape. Acting as an
interface, ObsLam also facilitates recording through an integrated real-time scanning
system and mobile-enabled data HUD, seamlessly bridging the atmospheric and the digital.
Amid the climate crisis and advancing desertification, Alto Patache emerges as a critical
“laboratory for possible futures,” where fog becomes both a crucial resource and a symbol
of ecosystemic resilience. Within this terrain, ObsLam operates as a plug-in that extends
and hacks the existing scientific infrastructure of the Atacama UC Station, merging with its
network of sensors, collectors, and instruments to feedback a different kind of knowledge
production. The artifact does not merely help sense the fog in a new way—it activates it,
reframing it as a post-natural entity existing at the intersection of technology, the
atmosphere, and human imagination.
ObsLam's presence as a permanently operational artifact in this landscape challenges the
limits of what it means to "observe." By generating a dynamic, large-scale sectional image
of the fog—impossible to perceive unaided—it unveils a hidden dimension of the
atmosphere, asking how we might extend our sensory boundaries to engage more deeply
with the planetary forces shaping our existence. This is not just about seeing the fog; it is
about seeing with the fog—collaborating with it as a dynamic, unpredictable system that
resists commodification or easy interpretation.
Ultimately, KMNCHK ObsLam repositions observation as an act of care, a way of
reimagining our entanglement with a world in flux while contributing to the Atacama
Station's articulation of a new ontology of the desert—one that embraces the aesthetics of
ephemerality, the agency of air, and the radical potential of ecological imagination to
counter the western notion of the desert as a void. Rejecting rigid disciplinary boundaries,
ObsLam resists categorization, offering instead a speculative model for how technology can
mediate our relationship to a changing Earth. At a time when seeing has never been more
urgent, it reminds us that every act of looking is also an act of becoming.
1 The Kamanchaka is a dense coastal fog characteristic of the northern deserts of Chile and southern Peru,
particularly along the Pacific coast. It is most commonly associated with the Atacama Desert, one of the
driest places on Earth. The Kamanchaka forms when moist air from the Pacific Ocean meets the cold
Humboldt Current and rises over the coastal mountains. As it cools, it condenses into a thick fog that
blankets the coastal regions.
2 https://www.instagram.com/estacionatacamauc/
3 The "sublime" refers to a concept in aesthetics and philosophy that describes an overwhelming experience
of grandeur or power, often evoking awe, wonder, and even terror. It is associated with encounters that
surpass ordinary perception and comprehension, such as vast landscapes, extreme natural phenomena, or
profound artistic expressions. Key philosophical definitions include Edmund Burke's emphasis on the
sublime as rooted in feelings of fear and astonishment, and Immanuel Kant's view of it as a confrontation
with the infinite or the formless, which challenges human faculties yet uplifts the spirit through the
recognition of reason's power.