CALCULUS
Calculus unfolded, through three differentiated works, a discourse referring to public space and how history, perception and convention regulates it.
The first of these interventions was called "Drainage" and was based on a characteristic of the exhibition space itself: the CGAC Museum, designed by the architect Álvaro siza, was built on top of an underground water spring. Two hydraulic pumps work continuously to extract the water which would otherwise flood the lower floor of the building.
The intervention consisted in the installation of a steel pipe that, starting from the aforementioned water well, crossed the museum rooms, broke through one of the walls and continued its journey downhill through the adjoining streets until it reached the point where, originally and until the construction from the museum, the water source had discharged its flow.
This functional structure reflected on the condition of the museum as a structure typical of early modernity, whose function extends to the present day in a permanent and precarious balance with the context and foundations on which it stands.
For the second work, entitled “Incidencia no computable", I modified the chemical composition of the drinking water of a population of more than 100,000 inhabitants.
This radical action hijacked the role of agency socially attributed to art to deliver an eloquent message about the imposing nature of most art interventions in the public space.
A third work linked these two previous discursive points together, and introduced reflections on the idea of concentric accumulation typical of both the urban phenomenon and the crystallisation of personal and collective memories.
To do this, I used a single and tiny element: a kidney stone from an anonymous city dweller.
CALCULUS
Calculus unfolded, through three differentiated works, a discourse referring to public space and how history, perception and convention regulates it.
The first of these interventions was called "Drainage" and was based on a characteristic of the exhibition space itself: the CGAC Museum, designed by the architect Álvaro siza, was built on top of an underground water spring. Two hydraulic pumps work continuously to extract the water which would otherwise flood the lower floor of the building.
The intervention consisted in the installation of a steel pipe that, starting from the aforementioned water well, crossed the museum rooms, broke through one of the walls and continued its journey downhill through the adjoining streets until it reached the point where, originally and until the construction from the museum, the water source had discharged its flow.
This functional structure reflected on the condition of the museum as a structure typical of early modernity, whose function extends to the present day in a permanent and precarious balance with the context and foundations on which it stands.
For the second work, entitled “Incidencia no computable", I modified the chemical composition of the drinking water of a population of more than 100,000 inhabitants.
This radical action hijacked the role of agency socially attributed to art to deliver an eloquent message about the imposing nature of most art interventions in the public space.
A third work linked these two previous discursive points together, and introduced reflections on the idea of concentric accumulation typical of both the urban phenomenon and the crystallisation of personal and collective memories.
To do this, I used a single and tiny element: a kidney stone from an anonymous city dweller.