An Invisible Barn Materializes; A Thought-provoking Folly

The barn is also bird-friendly. Tech worked closely with Sagehen assistant director Felix to prevent the building collisions that kill so many migratory birds.

"We figured it out by incorporating science into the art work" Tech says. They found a type of mirrored film that is highly reflective in the optical range of birds, enabling avians to spot and avoid the building.

Tech has already presented the Invisible Barn to an AIA (American Institute of Architects) gathering at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno. And in mid-June, the museum’s conference on intersections between art and science brought attendees on #ArtSciConverge a field trip to visit Sagehen. In addition to the Invisible Barn, conference-goers viewed Sagehen in the High Sierra: A Proving Ground, a work examining climate change by renowned environmental artists Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison.

Participants in the art and science conference pose before the barn. Image credit: Sagehen Creek Field Station

"To me the most amazing part of the meeting was the response from a wide swath of the different communities in attendance and actively engaged in art/science convergence," says reserve director Jeff Brown. "There is a real and compelling need to enable science and art to work more collaboratively together. They have the potential to expand their roles to society beyond the feeding of information."

For his part, Tech views the Invisible Barn as a prime example of how synergy between art and science can creates a good project. "Art can stand alone but it is so much more convincing when it meets science."