Tag Archives: site-specific

Denk mal… (#1)

January 16, 2013

DENK MAL… (#1)

Denkmal
noun 1: German for monument.

denk
noun 1: German for thought 2 verb: the imperative of denken, to think.

denk mal (an)
“think about it”.

During my artist residency at HB Berlin, I walked from home to base and back, trying to listen closely and actively to place, attending to the small, the subtle, the unstable and the slow. I set out to make connections at ground level, on foot and on the go, without losing sight of disconnections. I walked alone and alongside; both on my own and assisted by the scroller. During one particular outing with Vera and Hanae, as we were digging for asides and overlooked corners, we encountered an odd and mysterious object embedded in the sidewalk. A metallic frame, too tall to be intended for locking bikes, too awkwardly positioned to hold advertisements. Hanae swung from it, Vera photographed it, I measured and sketched it, we interviewed passersby about it. Now long after learning its original intended use, I’m still being strongly drawn to this menhir-like structure, still making drawings of it, still drawing attention to it and all its possible different uses and meanings. By restoring it and honoring its presence in a more official-ish way, I’m hoping to set it in motion in a way that it remains untranslatable, unknowable and in process; oscillating between the banal and the valuable, fixity and movement, being a relic and a monument.

Hanae and Vera

Pre-restoration (detail #1).

Pre-restoration (detail #2).

Pre-restoration (detail #3).

The internationally recognized ‘Blue Shield’ emblem of the “International Register of Cultural Property” (Article 16 of the 1954 Hague Convention; adopted by the UNESCO).

Marking originally used in the GDR to mark protected buildings/monuments. Now used in most German states.

Special thanks: Vera Schöpe, Hanae Utamura, Adrian Brun, Oliver Staadt, Dana Claasen, Laura Jefcoate, Sarah Lüdemann, HomeBase Build IV.

Posted in co-laborings, footings, giftings, – all – | Also tagged conversing, drawing, intervention, object, performance, photography |

S(c/t)roller

December 21, 2012

S(C/T)ROLLER

Much more than a mere extension of my artistic practice, or a “tool” with which I “discover” or “apprehend” site, walking is a distinct way I think(and)make. After all, sites as active agents with permeable bodies, not mere backdrops or contexts. Walking, therefore, is a conversation, a reciprocal and simultaneous act of shaping and being shaped, a situated and embodied/enminded way of reading and writing.

Paraphrasing Rousseau, I can only think/make when I walk and/or talk. When I stop, I cease to think/make; I can only attend in dialogue. This is why I decided to build a portable scrolling device able to continuously feed me paper and with which I can track the path I/my eyes/my thoughts travel as I move about. The Scroller allows me to trace (in) a non-linear yet continuous single-line way, without having to lift my pencil or pen or look down to turn the pages of a notebook. The plan is that the next version(s) will have the ability to automatically vary the speed of the paper’s movement based on how fast or slow I go.

(More soon.)

In cooperation with Ken Campbell

Photos by Ken Campbell and Alanna Lawley.

Posted in footings, tracings, – all – | Also tagged drawing, object, performance |

Gifti(n)g

January 24, 2012

Gifti(n)g

gift noun 1 : something voluntarily given by one person to another without compensation 2 : the German word for poison.

Is there is such a thing as a truly unconditional gift, one which doesn’t emerge from —or generate — a sense of debt? Is a gift genuine only if it’s offered anonymously and without a motivation or expectation of any kind of return (be it a countergift, gratitude, recognition, praise, approval…)? Or is there a way to develop a free-gifting practice that doesn’t demand (the impossibility of) absolute altruism?

To explore this question I have been making hundreds of handmade, life-size, realistic-looking and bio-regionally-correct ceramic mushrooms by hand and distributing at undisclosed sites. In other words, sometimes, instead of mushroom picking, I discreetly go “mushroom placing”, so those attentive to their surroundings — or those who simply get lucky — might end up with a one-of-a-kind offering.

Posted in footings, giftings, – all – | Also tagged ceramics, intervention, object, performance |

Deerwalk

January 23, 2007

DEERWALK

(O Regreso Daquele Que Sempre Aquí Esteve)

On the road to Vila Nova de Cerveira, the “land of deer” in northern Portugal, I spotted one of those ‘deer crossing’ road signs. I asked if there were many deer in the area. The reply: hunted to extinction. So story (very, very) abridged, I embarked on a mission to draw the original settler back from exile by way of a 4+km outline of a royal stag over the whole town. After months of walking around the area to gauge the territory (this was in 2003, before Google had mapped the area and before handheld GPS devices were easily available), I realized that the combination of old and modern streets would provide me with all the lines I needed – and much, much more. The drawing itself was described by an unannounced and nocturnal “deerwalk” two years later during the rutting season, for which I wore specially handcrafted ‘hooves’ inspired by traditional Portuguese farmer clogs that stamped a golden ‘deer track’ at every step. The trek was mapped out to start and end at the same spot (i.e. in front of the entrance to the castle, between the two antlers) and was mostly documented by curious passersby.

The castle is protected by the antlers of the deer.

The town square is the brain of the deer.

The church is the eye of the deer (looking into the library).

The fountainous garden is the nose of the deer.

The portuguese revolution is the heart of the deer.

The town’s founding father is the (douglas-fir-filled) stomach of the deer.

The art museum was the breakfast of the deer.

The school of art and architecture was the lunch of the deer.

The seat of the local government is the dinner of the deer.

And the hospital is where everybody assumed the deer would end up with badly injured hooves (but didn’t).

(This is the design I’m proposing for the (stone) markers that the local government has been intending to install to signal the anatomical bits of the deerscape.)

***

With support from the UNESCO, Bienal de Cerveira, Cámara Municipal de Vila Nova de Cerveira, University of California, and Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (FONCA).

Deerwalk / Deerscape. (O Regreso Daquele Que Sempre Aqui Esteve)
Photos: Ricardo Abreu, Kiko Silva, Mariana Bacelar, Teresa Lameira, Ilya Noé
Special thanks: Catarina Viana, Jorge Silva, Kiko Silva, Henrique Silva.

Posted in co-laborings, creaturings, footings, giftings, tracings, – all – | Also tagged drawing, intervention, performance, photography, video |

De-pollution

January 22, 2007

Proposal to de-pollute Mexico City air(space).

(Photographic images on commercial billboards.)

Posted in giftings, – all – | Also tagged intervention, photograpy |

Welcome. Get Lost.

April 17, 2004

As a constant traveler, I find my way around unknown spaces by wandering around map-less and by finding/making correspondences with the landmarks of the city where I was born and know fairly well. Sometimes the associations are quite literal, sometimes poetical, but more often than not, they only make sense to me.

During my time in Barcelona, I made two maps: one of downtown Mexico City and the other of downtown area of my new environment. At least that’s what they read. At closer look though, the map that says ‘México D.F. Centro” is actually the map of Barcelona and vice versa. Street names such as Alameda Central and Passeig de Grácia replace Las Ramblas and Paseo de la Reforma.

I gave away a few of these professional-looking pocket maps to unsuspecting visitors in each of the cities to assist them in finding alternate ways to transit space. Hopefully, at least one person welcomed the invitation to get lost and stumbled across happy accidents and undiscovered gems.

Published in the book ON BARCELONA, Actar, 2005, Spain.

Posted in footings, giftings, works, – all – | Also tagged intervention |

Phoenix Trees

January 16, 2002

This is an ongoing site-specific project first developed during a residence at the Banff National Park, in the Canadian Rockies. The idea is to use materials derived from the same objects to be (re-)presented (i.e. trees), thus (per)forming a ‘circle of conservation’ of both matter and form.

Step 1: Long walks to identify the local species.

Step 2: Collection and classification of samples (i.e. fallen branches, etc.).

Step 3: Carbonization of the selected materials.

Drawing on a 15 meter long roll of paper.

Step 4: Reconstruction of the specimens in their actual size.

Result 1:

a 15 meter douglas fir ‘rising from its own charcoal’. (Detail)

With support from The Banff Centre for the Arts + Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (FONCA).

Posted in footings, tracings, – all – | Also tagged drawing |

Sporadic Houses

January 12, 2002

This project consists in the construction of three-dimensional and life-sized edifices using the drawings of archetypal houses I made as a child as my points of reference. So far, 4 different constructions, on 8 occasions and in 5 different countries have been installed.

***

SPORADIC HOUSE #1:

The ‘blueprint’ for the first of the series is a graphite drawing on my dad’s old architecture studio stationary, while the ‘house’ itself is made out of eight stretched canvases.

“Blueprint” for House #1 (ca. 1978)

***

SPORADIC HOUSE #2:

For the second house, I opted for whatever organic material was available at each space, given that the blueprint is a collage made out of twigs and dried leaves. I first built it in Venice using mostly pine needles, and then in a diversely vegetated Barcelona park, from where it vanished mysteriously one night. Weeks later we discovered that a family of travellers had taken it because they needed an extra room. My intention was to build it on my own, but everyday dozens of people would come by to offer to help out and so the construction process became a week-long communal action.

“Blueprint” for House #2 (ca. 1980)

Construction process. Venice, Italy

Construction process. Sant Pol de Mar, Barcelona

***

SPORADIC HOUSE #3:

“Blueprint” for House #3. (ca. 1979) Sketch my father made while teaching (me?) about perspective and on top of which I traced with a red marker trying to follow his lines.

***

SPORADIC HOUSE #4:

The blueprint for the fourth house is an odd case. Generally, a child will first draw a house and then it’s surroundings, but I did exactly the opposite and seem to have decided against coloring it in. Therefore, my material of construction for the aluminum structure, aside from the frame, is space. Walls, roof, door and chimney are made out of the landscape it is located in.

My plan is to take this house on a few hikes and use it as my camping tent.

“Blueprint” for House #3 (ca. 1980)

***

With support from CONACULTA , The Banff Centre for the Arts, Museu de Sant Pol + Amics de les Arts.

Special thanks: Carlos Aguirre, Soledad Arias, Ivan Bercedo, Graciela Blackaller, Jo Bristol, Jordi Folgado, Pilar Gallegos, Ricard Ibernon, Mihalis Kyriazis, Jorge Mestre, Chiara Molon, Eva Noé, Fernando Noé, Cristina Pastó, Perejaume, Marcelino Perelló, Mercedes Perelló, Joan Puigdefábregas, Josep Sauleda, La Tana, Alex Tsiboulski, Luca Ugolini, Valentina Zarco.

Posted in assemblings, – all – | Also tagged conversing, installation, intervention, performance |