La Chacana: A hospitality project for Bethesda, MD
When you step into "Pisco y Nazca" restaurant in Bethesda, MD, you feel it immediately: the hum of voices, the warmth of shared food, and — if you look up — a pattern of color and movement floating lightly above the main dining room.
These ceiling panels aren’t simply decoration. They’re a kinetic chromatic abstraction of La Chacana — the Andean Cross. For more than 4,000 years, this symbol has guided communities across the Andes, reminding us that life’s visible layers are always connected to an invisible order.
A Decomposition of the Symbol
These ceiling panels aren’t simply decoration. They’re a kinetic chromatic abstraction of La Chacana — the Andean Cross. For more than 4,000 years, this symbol has guided communities across the Andes, reminding us that life’s visible layers are always connected to an invisible order.
It’s an interpretation that honors the original meaning yet insists on something more: a living geometry that plays with light, perspective, and the gentle flow of people dining beneath it. It becomes an encounter, not just an image.
As guests share stories below, the artwork shifts gently above — a reminder that good meals, like good art, are never static.
Our practice stands for a multilayered experience, always bold enough to reshape how we see space and time.
From Sacred Geometry to Shared Space
When DAC Art Consulting invited us to collaborate on Pisco y Nazca’s new location, we wanted the ceiling to do more than look beautiful. We wanted it to hold a hidden story — an echo of the Peruvian roots the restaurant celebrates.
In my practice as a kinetic artist, I draw on universal principles — rhythm, polarity, correspondence — to build works that feel alive. Each panel above your table was crafted by hand, tested for balance, color vibration, and interaction with light and movement. The geometry is precise, but the feeling is soft — it shimmers quietly as guests gather below.
An Art of Enduring Presence
I believe good art in public spaces shouldn’t just fill a gap — it should invite you to stay a moment longer. It should add depth to a meal, spark a memory, or start a conversation you didn’t expect.
These panels do exactly that. They hover as a living presence, whispering that there’s more to every gathering than the food and drink alone.
A Story That Travels
Our own journey mirrors this spirit. Last year, my family and I relocated to Spain. It wasn’t easy — but through this work, and through collectors and spaces that believe in living art, we keep building bridges between cultures and places. From Lima to Vigo to Atlanta.
Look Up, Take a Moment
So next time you sit under these panels at Pisco y Nazca, look up. Let this kinetic abstraction of La Chacana remind you that we’re always surrounded by patterns — sometimes visible, sometimes hidden — shaping how we feel, connect, and belong.
If you’d like to learn more about my practice — or bring a story like this into your own project — I’d love to hear from you.