Tuesday 28 September 2010

'PRIMEIRA E ULTIMA, NOTAS SOBRE O MONUMENTO' CURATED BY RODRIGO MOURA AT LUISA STRINA IN SAO PAULO


Alexandre da Cunha (both concrete sculptures), Bernardo Ortiz (wall drawings)


Pedro Reyes (table), Mauro Restiffe (left photograph), Claudia Andujar (right photographs)


Erika Verzutti (starfruits sculpture), Giuseppe Gabellone (left photographs), Matheus Rocha Pitta (gray sculpture), Marcius Galan (far back sculpture), Robert Kinmont (right photographs)


Alexandre da Cunha (both concrete sculptures), Bernardo Ortiz (wall drawings), Jonathas de Andrade (right photographs), Gabriel Sierra (railing)


Laura Lima (long black hat), Marta Minujin (left wall), Gabriel Sierra (black railing), Claudia Andujar (right photographs)


Pedro Reyes (table), Cildo Meireles (right photographs), Gabriel Sierra (black railing)


Gabriel Sierra (black railing), Jonathas de Andrade (photographs)


Lorenzato (paintings)

Galeria Luisa Strina is pleased to invite you to the opening of
'Primeira e última, Notas sobre o monumento',
19 September 2010, from 12PM to 5PM.
This will be the first exhibition in the gallery’s new space, at Rua Padre João Manuel, 755, and the last at Rua Oscar Freire, 502, where it functioned for the past 36 years.
Curated by Rodrigo Moura
Alain Resnais & Chris Marker, Alexandre da Cunha, Bernardo Ortíz, Carlos Garaicoa, Cildo Meireles, Claudia Andujar, Deimantas Narkevicius, Erika Verzutti, Gabriel Sierra, Giuseppe Gabellone, Hitoshi Nomura, Jonathas de Andrade, Laura Lima, Lorenzato, Lygia Clark, Marcius Galan, Marta Minujín, Matheus Rocha Pitta, Matías Duville, Mauro Restiffe, Pedro Motta, Pedro Reyes, Robert Kinmont e Tonico Lemos Auad.
20 Sept. – 17 Dec. 2010


Primeira e última, Notas sobre o monumento
First and last, Notes on the monument
Rodrigo Moura

The history of the monument is inextricably linked with the history of sculpture. It is also part and parcel with the history of the winner. In their criticism of these relations, the artists have constructed some of the most interesting works in the last 50 years.

This exhibition is not interested in proposals for new monuments per se, but in the critical reading that the artists have been making of sculpture and of the monument. Artist Marta Minujín, who pioneered the work of deconstructing iconic monuments beginning in the 1970s, presented her Obelisco deitado [Reclining Obelisk] at the First Bienal Latino-Americana (São Paulo, 1978) stripping away the verticality and solidity from the monument’s archetypical image. More than 30 years later, the same image reemerged in the work of Tonico Lemos Auad, but here without the materiality of the object and in the transformation of the terrace of a gallery into a grassy field.

Primeira e última, Notas sobre o monumento [First and last, Notes on the monument] marks the transition between the historic space where Galeria Luisa Strina operated for more than three decades and its new installations, now being inaugurated. It thus proposes an homage to the gallery’s past, while also pointing to its future – in this temporal movement that is characteristic of the monument’s construction.

Modern sculpture saw the incorporation of the pedestal as part of the work itself, opening the way for sculpture’s nomadic condition. The base is the world. This principle appears in Erika Verzutti’s infinite column, a mention to Brancusi and made of starfruits. Other artists are interested in using the pedestal itself as a sculptural body to be investigated, as Marcius Galan is doing in his work in progress.

As could not be otherwise, sculpture plays a central part in this exhibition: Gabriel Sierra has created a work that occupies virtually all of the gallery’s new space, proposing a kind of urbanism for it, a path-design within the curatorial project; Alexandre da Cunha has revisited the concrete monument on the basis of appropriation, collage and re-signification of urban fixtures; Pedro Reyes’s sculpture proposes an effort of construction aimed at destruction – circularly – as in the myth of Sisyphus.

In the work by Giuseppe Gabellone, the sculpture appears exclusively for the camera: once it is photographed, it will be destroyed, its materiality remaining only in the image. Matheus Rocha Pitta’s proposal would be inglorious, were it not ironic: remaking the Wall of China, out of paper and in miniature scale. The works by Carlos Garaicoa are small sculptures in paper where the old and the new (not so new) come together and clash. Laura Lima has created an inverted pedestal, a space to be “worn” by the spectator, a gala article of clothing for the inauguration.

Robert Kinmont, a yet little-known historic artist, presents a series of photographs documenting an action carried out in 1967, where the body is overlaid to the landscape in shots of verticality and concentration, a solitary monument. In Tardiology (1968—69), Hitoshi Nomura investigates the decadence of the monument, induced by the passage of time and the elements, in an act that orchestrates sculpture, performance and photography.

Bernardo Ortiz works with drawing on the border between facsimile and the document, bringing together series that allude to a stroll through the city, but also an analysis between real space and abstraction. In the drawing of Matías Duville, we see what is nearly a representation of land art: a negative, entropic space, between construction and the ruin, between the natural landscape and that created by man.

The work by Claudia Andujar, one of the most active photographers over the last 50 years in Brazil, functions within the exhibition as a kind of connecting thread: aerial images of São Paulo that show the city from a certain distance, transforming it into a deceptive reality; images of a deserted (post-apocalyptic? still under construction?) Brasília that we hardly recognize, consisting mainly of land and sky; the photo of a Yanomami funeral rite.

Amadeo Luciano Lorenzato witnessed the 20th century discreetly from his open-air studio in the outskirts of Belo Horizonte. A nearly invisible artist in the history of Brazilian art, he is fundamental for the construction of this exhibition. His paintings portray an imaginary Brasília; a housing complex in the suburbs (for the minimalists, a reinvention of the monument); paired sculptures by Amílcar de Castro and Franz Weissmann; an automobile cemetery. Monuments captured from a distance.

Photography appears recurrently in the exhibition, whether in the documentation of anonymous roadside monuments in the work by Pedro Motta, or to compose narratives of great events in history, as in the image by Mauro Restiffe of Obama’s emblematic inauguration ceremony; or in less great historical developments, such as the semi-abandoned modernist building depicted in the work by Jonathas de Andrade.

The photographic documentation of the work Tiradentes: Totem-monumento ao preso politico [Tiradentes: Totem-monument to the political prisoner] (1970) by Cildo Meireles refers to a crucial moment in art history, where the artist leaves the institution to make a monument consisting of an ephemeral action with a long-term impact: the burning of animals. A brutal criticism of the Brazilian military regime and its practice of arresting and imprisoning those who opposed it.

The video by Deimantas Narkevicius revisits the history of the 20th century, reinstating it as a farce. We see the taking down of a statue of Lenin, in Vilnius, which in the edited video looks like it were being seen for the first time, rather than the last.

There is moreover a discrete homage to Lygia Clark, an artist who brought about an indelible revolution in our notion of space, by the inclusion of one of her Bichos [Animals], transforming the gallery’s office into an exhibition space.

Les statues meurent aussi [Statues also die, 1953] a milestone in the genre of film essays, co-directed by Alain Resnais and Chris Marker, is a manifesto against colonizers' appropriation of African art, a symbolic death of the statues.

The hypothesis of this exhibition is that the monument is an attempt to forestall the passage of time and forgetfulness and, in the last analysis, our own disappearance – in this sense, the monument would be almost a metaphor of the artwork. There is also something erotic in this desire for permanence after death. But this same desire points to the possibility of an imminent end, either as a transformation or as ruin. For every beginning there is an end.

GALERIA LUISA STRINA
Rua Oscar Freire 502, Cerqueira César, 01426-000 - São Paulo SP, Brasil, T 55 11 3088 2471
Rua Padre João Manuel 755, Cerqueira César, 01411-001 - São Paulo SP, Brasil
Visiting hours: Monday to Friday, from 10AM to 7PM; Saturdays from 10AM to 5PM
info@galerialuisastrina.com.br
www.galerialuisastrina.com.br

Monday 27 September 2010

WHAT WAS AN ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN DOING INSIDE THE SAO PAULO BIENAL? THE CENSORSHIP OF ROBERTO JACOBY AND THE BRIGADA INTERNACIONAL'S PARTICIPATION




work after censored


Brigada Internacional from Argentina participating in the Bienal supporting Dilma, the presidential candidate of the PT


censored video

visit http://brigadainternacionalargentina.blogspot.com/
visti the 29 Sao Paulo Bienal website


Sao Paulo is Burning: The Spectre of Politics at the Biennal

"The 29th Sao Paulo Biennial is anchored in the idea that it is impossible to separate art and politics." In view of the events of the past 48 hours, there are serious reasons to doubt the honesty of this statement.

The work that is shaping up to become the most interesting at the Sao Paulo Biennial has not been made by any artist, but by the institution itself, when it issued the order to cover some imposing panels with plain paper, to prevent visitors from seeing two large photographs: the friendly, attractive face of Dilma Rousseff opposite the sour expression of José Serra, her Social Democratic rival in Brazil’s presidential elections.

The Argentinean artist Roberto Jacoby’s work for the biennial consisted of socialising his space and allowing it to be managed by the Argentinean Brigade for Dilma, which openly proceeded to spread propaganda in favour of the Workers’ Party (PT) candidate as Lula’s successor, choosing to be part of an exceptional historic moment of unity, solidarity, redistribution and democracy that is opening up in Latin America.

According to the – not very convincing – justification that has been issued by the Sao Paulo Biennial Foundation, a report by the Electoral Attorney General’s office has decreed that the work qualifies as an “electoral offense” in that breaks the law that prohibits the “transmission of propaganda of any nature” in spaces that are run by public authorities. However, the Biennial itself had contacted the legal authorities in the first place to report the work that they had invited.

In a statement to the press, one of the curators of the Biennial, Agnaldo Farias, declared that “we can not contest the court ruling, because we even run the risk of going to jail. If we had known in advance that the work dealt with Dilma, we would have warned the artist, because we’d have known there would be problems.” The curators’ arguments that they had been “taken unawares” by the evolution of the work does not stand up to scrutiny, given that the censured photograph is included in the Biennial’s catalogue and web site.

The only possible response to this cowardly statement is a question: what does an established art curator think he is asking for when he invokes the word “politics”? Aside from this specific case, it is not unusual to see curatorial projects that use the link between “art and politics” to exhibit documentary cemeteries or portraits of faraway strange or poor people. Jacoby’s political artwork at this Biennial effectively opposes the disempowerment of political art that is currently exercised in the institutional mainstream.

So what happens when an artist is serious about the need to turn an artistic space into a public space, in order to generate political confrontation – rather than false consensus – in real time, and in the very belly of the art system? El alma nunca piensa sin imagen / The soul never thinks without images – which is the title of the work – does not just consist of electoral propaganda in favour of Dilma: the section of the exhibition allocated to Jacoby was also transformed into a machine for producing antagonism between different opinions, taking sides and forcing the art establishment to become involved in a discussion on the verifiable fact that, today, in a geopolitical space like Latin America, there is more experimentation, more creativity and – ultimately – more hope in the realm of politics – from institutions to social movements – than in the contemporary art system.

Jacoby is participating in the Biennial on two counts, given that he is also part of the collective of artists, sociologists and militants from several Argentinean cities who produced the historic exhibition Tucumán Arde (Tucumán is Burning) in 1968, a project that is mistakenly documented on the Biennial web site – and this is a serious and telling symptom – as a work by the Grupo de Arte de Vanguardia of the city of Rosario. Tucumán Arde was closed down at the labour union headquarters in Buenos Aires, due to pressure from the army during the dictatorship of General Onganía: its provocation consisted in overflowing the art system in order to embrace the social protest against the existing system. The other way round, El alma nunca piensa sin imagen seems to have been censured for having brought into the centre of the art system an activity in favour of a non-artistic process that takes place in the political institution. The Argentinean Brigade for Dilma exhibits it as something much more real – in that it is more imperfect and ultimately complex – than the immaculate halo that usually surrounds the word “politics” in curatorial texts.

Buenos Aires / Sao Paulo, September 23rd , 2010

To publicly support this declaration, email:

elalmanuncapiensasinimagen@gmail.com

Please support, distribute, and publish in your blogs.

Members of the Argentinean Brigade for Dilma:

Adriana Minoliti, Alejandro Ros, Ana Longoni, Alina Perkins, Cecilia Sainz, Cecilia Szalkowicz, Daniel Joglar, Fernanda Laguna, Francisco Garamona, Florencia Hipolitti, Paula Bugni, Hernán Paganini, Javier Barilaro, José Fernández Vega, Julia Ramírez, Kiwi Sainz, Laura Escobar, Lidia Aufgang, Lucas Rubinich, Mariano Andrade, Mariela Scafati, Mariela Bond, María Granillo, Nacho Marciano, Roberto Jacoby, Santiago Villanueva, Syd Krochmalny, Tomás Espina, Víctor Florido, Victoria Colmegna.

Supporting this declaration (updated: 25/9/2010)

Marcelo Expósito (Barcelona/Buenos Aires), Gachi Hasper (Buenos Aires), Diana Aisenberg (Buenos Aires), Cecilia Sainz (Buenos Aires), Federico Geller (Buenos Aires), Helena Chávez (México), Fernanda Nogueira (Sao Paulo), Miguel López (Lima), Francisco Reyes Palma (México), Marina de Caro (Buenos Aires), Octaviano Moniz Barreto (Bahia), Damián Ríos, Inés Patricio (Rio de Janeiro), Hugo Salas, Guadalupe Maradei (Buenos Aires), Federico Brollo (Buenos Aires), Hugo Vidal (Buenos Aires), Leo Ramos (Resistencia), Ramiro Larraín (Buenos Aires), Inés Martino (Rosario), Compartiendo Capital (Rosario), David Gutiérrez Castañeda (México/Bogotá), Hernán Rodolfo Ulm (Argentina), Beba Eguía (Buenos Aires), Ricardo Piglia (Buenos Aires), Mariana Serbent (Mendoza), Laura García Hernàndez, Magdalena Jitrik (Buenos Aires), José Curia, Leandro Katz (Buenos Aires), Adrián Pérez (Buenos Aires), Eduardo Grüner (Buenos Aires), Carolina Senmartín (Còrdoba), Mariana Botey (México), Carlos Aranda (México), Daniel Duchowney (Argentina), Aldo Ambrozio (Brasil), Carlos Banzi (Argentina), José Luis Meirás (Buenos Aires), Gabriela Nouzeilles (Princeton), Lía Colombino (Asunción), Museo del Barro (Asunción), Taller Crìtica (Asunción), Fernando Davis (Buenos Aires), William López (Bogotá), José Ignacio Otero (Buenos Aires), Leonardo Retamoso Palma (Santa María), Emilio Tarazona (Lima), Ricardo Resende (Sao Paulo), María Cristina Pérez (Rosario), Gustavo López (Bahía Blanca), Marcelo Diaz (Argentina), José Luis Tuñón (Comodoro Rivadavia), Carlos Dias (Brasil), Claudia del Río (Argentina), Juan Manuel Burgos (Còrdoba), Marcos Ferreira de Paula (Sao Paulo), Amalia Gieschen (Argentina), Suely Rolnik (Sao Paulo), Cristina Ribas (Rio de Janeiro), André Mesquita (Sao Paulo).

*****

Roberto Jacoby's Proposal for the Bienal (in spanish and portuguese):
Proyecto General
Oficina de campaña en apoyo de Dilma Rousseff

Instalación de una oficina de campaña en favor de Dilma Rousseff en la Bienal de Sao Paulo, por las elecciones presidenciales de Brasil el 3 de octubre de 2010.

Todo el espacio (unos 130 metros cuadrados) estará cubierto con afiches de la campaña del PT, banderas, carteles, volantes, camisetas, pins y pasacalles.

Habrá un escenario con micrófono y parlantes, donde se harán conferencias, palestras y el público de la Bienal podrá hablar libremente.

Se proyectará un video de Spots de opiniones a favor de la candidatura de Dilma Rousseff.

Se instalarán computadoras con wifi, impresoras, mesas de serigrafía, máquinas para fabricar pins, se producirán afiches, volantes, camisetas, jingles, y se registrará las opinones del público en diversos formatos. El público también podrá escribir cartas con sus opiniones y pegarlas en las paredes.

La Brigada Internacional Argentina de apoyo a Dilma viajará a Brasil y realizará talleres, paneles y actividades diversas durante el 20 y el 26 de Septiembre.

Se invita a artistas, intelectuales y activistas para el desarrollo de estas actividades hasta el 12 de Diciembre.

*****

Descripçao:

22 artistas e intelectuais argentinos viajam a SP para participar do projeto. Elles sempre usaram as camisetas da Brigada.

• Instalamos nos nossos 200 metros quadrados uma “unidade básica” do Partido dos Trabalhadores, de Lula para fazer campanha a favor de sua candidata Dilma Rousseff. Esta eleição é absolutamente decisiva para nossas vidas: se o Brasil cai nas mãos da direita ou seja Serra, tchau América Latina, tchau Argentina. O futuro ficará para mais adiante. Para isso esperamos contar com o apoio do PT y de activistas sociales y culturales.

No espaço haverá:
o Uma gigantografia cuja imagem adjunto no iste email.
o Um cenário (também uma caixa para guardar nossas coisas)
o Um microfone
o Duas caixas de som
o Duas luzes par 1000
o Luz ambiente com um dimmer
o Paredes com cartazes, reproduzindo uma unidade básica
o Faixas, etc.
o Mesas de trabalho, serigrafia, etc.
o Laptops com acesso à Internet
o 1 ou 2 impressoras.
o Scanner
o Um liquidificador e frutas
o E coisas necessárias que forem surgindo
• O que nós faríamos seriam oficinas, conversas, conferências, danças, técnicas gráficas, etc., relacionados com Dilma e as eleições.
• Dirigimo-nos sobretudo às pessoas jovens, estudantes e universitários que gostariam de fazer parte da campanha, mas que não estão no PT e não sabem o que e nem como fazêlo.
• Convidaremos a pessoas interessadas e aos assistentes da bienal para que se integrem a fazer as coisas, participar das palestras, ouvir as rádios, etc.
• Por exemplo: oficina de jingles ou ritmos, cartazes, broches, panfletos, fanzines, teatro de fantoches, etc.
• Tudo será feito na hora e distribuído no momento.
• Teremos um blog onde subiremos no momento as produções para que em qualquer parte do Brasil qualquer pessoa possa fazê-los. Criaremos uma red através de Factbook e Twitter.
• As atividades estarão programadas por faixa de horários para que não se sobreponham, evitando que se perturbem: por exemplo, que um orador esteja falando e que se esteja batucando ao mesmo tempo.
• Como apoio à campanha desde Argentina, faremos uma série de clips de celebridades argentinas conhecidas entre todos nós ou que sejam fáceis de contatar. Os clips se filmarão com celulares, i-pods ou blackberrys e se subirão ao blog. Também estarão num monitor na sala.
• Tudo mais

Sunday 26 September 2010

HELP ELLEN CANTOR FINISH HER FILM 'PINOCHET PORN'!




DONATE HERE!

"Pinochet Porn" is a soap opera-like narrative about five children growing up during the Pinochet regime, and their subsequent maturation into adulthood. Shot on Super-8, this feature-length film is based on a 2005 hand drawn film script "Circus Lives from Hell". The story while disclosing the intertwined lives of these five characters, also reveals its nature as a microcosm of surrounding political discord, cycles of destruction, and mounting violence. It is at once tragic and comedic. Segments of a particular history are made observable through the circumstances of the lives depicted, all obliquely revolving around the Pinochet regime in Chile. Within this story, childhood fantasy is permeated by structures of annihilation, which the characters later create in their own lives as adults. The story ends with the question: Is tragedy a choice? The title refers to the complex intimate relationships of the characters; but more so, to the regime’s systematic, sadistic destruction of individual lives - policies furtively upheld by the United States, United Kingdom, and the Papacy. This film stretches across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, extending across continents, countries, cities…. It reaches from the shtetl, the barrio, the concentration camp, into a digital age of increasing mobility and globalization. Yet, despite genuine progress, it describes a world plagued by colonialism, imperialism, fascism, and terrorism.

This no-budget film has elicited collaboration from some of the most gifted people in the field. Your support would allow us to finish our film. All proceeds will go towards film processing, transfer and telecine, film shoots and editing. Your support is essential to helping us accomplish our vision and fulfil this goal.

YOUR DONATION WILL HELP US FINISH OUR FILM!!

Directed by : Ellen Cantor
Director of Photography : John Brattin
Art Director : Jay Kinney

STARRING :
 LIA GANGITANO!! - Pinochet's identical-twin daughters
Jim Fletcher - the Dictator
Andrew Haynes - the suffering Wife, the toy Boyfriend
Jay Kinney - the toy Boyfriend
Michel Auder- Husband One (he married both sisters!)
Spencer Sweeney - Husband Two (the young man)
John Thomson - Husband Three (he taught her about conceptual art...)
Ellen Cantor - Husband Four (the best friend), the Maid
Harri Kupiainen - Husband Five (the rock star!!)
Danny McDonald - Husband Six (he got her pregnant!)
Sofia Elisabeth Von Herrlich - the Baby!
Patrick Blumer - the Clown boy
Brandon Olson - the castrating man-eating demonic Girlfriend
Stephen Ward - Mambo Cha Cha (the famous DJ!)
Tristan Hughes-Freeland - Mambo Cha Cha as a child
Annabel Sexton - his little Sister
Rosalie Knox - the Nun

with special guest STAR appearances:
Francesca Gangitano
Carmel McMahon
Emma Nilsson
Mateo Kamzelas
Shandi Sullivan
Ryan Harman
Malcom Hamilton
Cate Giordano
Kerry Davis
Debbi Martini
Jo Murray
Arturo Carlo Samperi Malagnino
Nuutti Kataja from Dead Combo!!

and MORE to come ...
Cerith Wyn Evans - Osha the sex guru!

Narrated by : Pablo Leon de la Barra
Assistant Editor : Simon Popper, Nikos Pantazopoulos
Camera Assistance : Cate Giordano
Copy Editor : Nikos Dimitros
Creative Production Assistance : Jill Herman
Technical Assistance : Clinton Curtis, Glen Fogel

Friday 24 September 2010

BURO DE INTERVENCIONES PUBLICAS: TIRE SWINGS IN THE PUBLIC SPACE OF GUATEMALA
















The Buró de Intervenciones Públicas (Bureau of Public Interventions, BIP) is a collaborative project by Stefan Benchoam and Christian Ochaita that originated as a direct response to the lack of public spaces and infrastructures for recreation and socialization in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Their work incorporates various elements of architecture, art, design, and urbanism, hoping to modify the way in which citizens relate with the open spaces of their cities.

Their projects encourage the use of public spaces through playful elements and unusual occurrences, and are developed through their collaboration with other artists, collectives and people in general.

The interventions and occurrences that they organize can be read as Situationist gestures that generate reflection and debate about their city. On the other hand, each one is presented as a viable solution to the lack of initiative from the municipal and central government agencies.

Thursday 23 September 2010

DOMINIQUE GONZALEZ-FOERSTER 'DESERT PARK' IN THE TROPICS OF INHOTIM, BRAZIL







Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster's 'Desert Park' in Inhotim



film still of DGF's film 'Atomic Park' 2003

Inhotim invited Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster to develop a new site-specific project for the gardens. With Desert Park (2010), the artist proposes an outdoor environment consisting of a small collection of local prefabricated real-size concrete bus stops over a large field of desertic white sand next to the tropical forest. The structures and their assemblage compose a miniature allusion to Brasília modernist architecture, while the artificial landscape refers as much to J. G. Ballard’s novel Burning World (1964) as to the New Mexico White Sands Desert, the location in which Gonzalez-Foerster’s renown 2003 film Atomic Park was shot. The easily identifiable pieces of urban furniture appear misplaced in their new context, pointing to the artist’s recurring explorations on the notion of cultural nomadism and something she calls “the psycho geographic” elements of a place. The field of sand, also recalling the Bahian Lagoa do Abaeté, adds to the installation’s mystical dimension.

http://www.inhotim.org.br
http://www.dgf5.com/

Wednesday 22 September 2010

SOLANO BENITEZ: A GARDEN, A TOMB, 4 CONCRETE BEAMS, 4 MIRRORS, BUILT IN PIRIBEBUY, PARAGUAY IN 2000











Solano Benitez
Tumba en Piribebuy (En memoria de mi padre)
Proyecto 4 Vigas
(fragmentos de una carta)

Estoy construyendo un proyecto que me demoré diez años en hacerlo, aquí van las instrucciones para que lo puedas visualizar y espero que también lo dibujes, con el auxilio de estas referencias.

Imaginá un cuadrado de 9ms de lado, está inscripto en un paisaje muy particular, dos de los lados están bordeados de manera irregular por un pequeño arroyo de aguas cristalinas de .60 cms de ancho promedio, con pequeñas caídas de agua de .30 cms; y atravesando como en diagonal el cuadrado, transcurre otro curso menor que corre configurando una pequeña isla que desaparece a pocos metros, donde reconfluyen las aguas.

Este cuadrado esta conformado por cuatro vigas, de 7.50 ms de largo x .20 cms de ancho x .80 cms de alto, y bordes a la vista biselados, que se inician en los vértices, y avanzan hasta 1.50 ms antes de alcanzar el siguiente vértice del perímetro, quedando sin tocar el suelo que oscila a cotas diversas desde el fondo horizontal de vigas, entre .05 cms a .50 cms y mas; sostenidas cada una por un solo pilar, de altura variable de .25 cms de ancho x .80 cms de largo, que sitúa su lado mas largo, en perpendicular, y el ancho, en tangente a la cara externa de cada viga, sin apoyarla por debajo; generando de esta manera dos voladizos de viga, por cada lado, uno de 1.50 ms hacia el vértice del cuadrado y otro de 6 ms en dirección contraria, por cada pilar.

Te imaginarás, debido a la humedad de los causes del arroyo que este lugar está particularmente vegetado, y que las vigas se entrecruzan con la densidad arbórea y los helechos de gran porte, sin molestar a ninguna especie. El lugar así queda nombrado desde afuera con esta entrelazante estructura de hormigón.

En la cara externa de cada una de las vigas, en el encofrado, se introdujeron hojas de amambay - un helecho muy característico de estos arroyos - que estampa de esta forma su huella en el hormigón y fue ejecutado con la ayuda del maestro "Solanito", mi apasionado hijo mayor.

La cara interna de las vigas están recubiertas de espejos, de forma tal que el espacio nombrado desde fuera desaparezca desde dentro.

En el interior del cuadrado, esquivando las raíces, a la sombra de los árboles y poblado por el sonido del agua de los arroyos, hay una fosa, también de hormigón armado; que será de ahora en adelante, la tumba de mi padre.

Este proyecto lo abordé sistemática y periódicamente a lo largo de estos diez años que ya transcurrieron desde su muerte; y lo abandoné con la misma constancia con que surgía la necesidad de elaborarlo, cumpliendo un pedido suyo de ser enterrado en nuestra casa quinta de la localidad de Piribebuy, a 84 kms de Asunción, en el departamento de la cordillera, en el lugar por él bautizado "Los Pilinchos" sucursal del cielo.

Esta circunstancia de abordar el tema de la muerte, y en particular la de alguien tan amado, a lo largo de este tiempo me hizo atravesar todos los estados de la melancolía imaginables - único justificativo a mi inoperancia como arquitecto.

El ingreso atravesando la señal de las vigas, por los cuatro espacios interrumpidos del perímetro, hace desaparecer el lugar o densifica el aire con una fuerza centrípeta muy especial, donde todo lo presente queda integrado, esperando el momento en que se tome asiento junto al lugar de la tumba, momento en el cual toda presencia es asimilada por los espejos, que en su infinita repetición del espacio , lo transforma ahora sí en un integrador centrífugo.

Recuerdá que la altura de las vigas es la normal de una baranda, de aproximadamente 1.10 ms de alto, entonces al estar parado en ese espacio, la vista normal recorre mas metros que la superficie de 81m2 inscripta y resonante. Sé que es recurrente asociar la idea de los espejos al enamoramiento egoísta por excelencia, el narcisismo; pero hay una cosa que siempre me fascinó de los reflejos, la internalidad de "uno" y la externalidad de lo "otro", claudica en esta superficie, yo habito dentro mío, y yo soy el límite que me separa de todo. La excepción que abrazo con desesperación es el espejo.

En el espejo yo estoy "allí", en frente, fuera de mi mismo, habitando una otra dimensión que me iguala a todo lo demás, o que me permite habitar en un otro mundo que no sea mi interior, en un plano de igualdad y simultaneidad; tal vez en el espejo tengamos la máquina capaz de permitirnos el habitar de otra forma con nuestros seres... los amados ausentes, porque la obscenidad de la muerte les arrancó de nuestro lado... los que son el amor imposible, porque nunca encontramos ni el espacio ni el tiempo que les permita existir...

Esta pequeña obra, creo que tiene un particular carácter exorzisador para mí, y espero de ella un efecto por demás positivo en el gerenciamiento relacional con todos mis fantasmas.

Querido amigo, por aquí todo va bien, espero enviarte fotos de las obras que estamos avanzando, entre ellas muy particularmente el embarazo de Pili (a mia mulher) que a pesar de pequeños sobresaltos transcurre de maravilla.

Me encantaría saber que opinàs de este proyecto, sabiendo además que en tu imaginario se verá mucho mas mejor que lo que yo en realidad alcance a construir, y hacerte saber que "La Invención de Morel" el genial libro de Adolfo Bioy Casares, sigue dando frutos, - aunque muy influenciado además por mis queridos hermanos brasileños y paulistas, también estoy tentado a explicar esta obra para ellos de la siguiente manera... 4 vigas... 4 pilares... 4 espejos... y una fosa - aunque la poesía concreta sea para mí una refrescante novedad.

Tuesday 21 September 2010

CARLA ZACCAGNINI'S PLAYGROUND 'REACCION EN CADENA CON EFECTO VARIABLE' INSTALLED PERMANENTLY AT THE GARDENS OF MUSAC











MUSAC director Agustin Perez Rubio


MUSAC chief curator Maria Ines Rodriguez

Carla Zaccagnini
Reação em cadeia com efeito variável
(Chain Reaction with Variable Effect)
2008
Hydraulic and mechanical system driven by the simultaneous use of playground rides.
900 x 1,500 cm.
(In collaboration with Alexandre Canônico; technical development: Daniel Dias Ferreira; assistant: Gregório Rocha; advisor: Lauro Inoue; production management: Paulo Masson.)

See post of the original installation of 'Reação em cadeia com efeito variável' at the 28th Biennal of Sao Paulo here.

It is a pity that the playground did not stay at its original location at Ibirapuera Park, in Sao Paulo, but then I'm happy it found a good permanent home at MUSAC in Leon, Spain.