Faro

Fábrica da Cerveja, Faro 2008

A plywood structure inserted into the architecture of an old fortress in Faro's city center.





At the end of the tunnel, a small slit allowed one to look onto a dark chamber where a camera obscura projected, with the aid of a mirror and a lens, the cityscape (view A) onto an old plastic gasoline container.





Along a second, perpendicular axis, two corridors disclosed views B and C, to the left and to the right respectively. To the left was what could be called a "negative window" looking onto Faro's delta, i.e. a window in which the habitual opaque/transparent relations are reversed.


view B (long exposure)


view B (short exposure)

To the right was a one-way mirror reflecting both, one's own body and the negative window on the background. Attached to the mirror was a reconstruction of the window's frame and beyond it a strobe light flashing at 6 seconds intervals. When the strobe flashed, for a split second, the dark shape of the window's frame was formed on the mirror.

The result could be described in terms of a "lag" on perception. Between two opposing (and complementary) movements of decomposition and reconstruction, something was lost and something was added.

This project was produced for the exhibition "Articulações" curated by Nuno Faria.