S/T (argumento), 2014
Intervention, iron.
The fifty-one-centimeter ledge that separates the terrace from the outdoors is wide enough to be walked on easily. S/T (argumento) [Untitled (plot)] is a metal structure that serves as a walkway with railing. It is located on the border between two scenarios that fight over protagonism. It is possible to circulate on this threshold due to a section that is domesticated by a six-meter-long security structure that suggests the viability of crossing the fine line between the secure space (Fundación Proa) and the void (the surrounding space). The work is an invitation to experience the sense of vertigo brought on by walking on a ledge, to circulate between two worlds in order to ultimately decide which one to enter. Since there are no access steps, the action proposed by the work is chronically in a potential state insofar as it cannot actually be performed.
Un vaso de agua, 2014
Audio 25 minutes,
Script and direction: Leandro Tartaglia
Recording, editing and mixing: Mariano Ast
Spanish and English Voice: Romina Propato
Materials: table, chairs, sound equipment, map, magnifying glass, and glass of water dispenser
A voice reads a letter it is writing to the future, one addressed to one person or several people who live at least 500 years from now. What is needed to make a glass of water? What will the water that we drink in a thousand years’ time be like? Formulating questions that lead to more questions about something that forms part of our social existence. Water is part of the production process of each and every thing we use. We have a vital relationship with water; it comes down the mountain into the river and reaches the polluted Riachuelo river basin.
Posters at the landings of the stairs indicate to the public that there is a sound-based theater piece on a table in the bar. Members of the audience follow simple instructions to activate the mp3 player that begins to read different orders of documentation—historical, literary, political, economic, technological. This sound-based play attempts to open questions about water as cherished nutrient, as fuel, as medium or border, and to create on the basis of a common object a series of obvious or unknown connections that reveal the complexity that this naturalized object holds. The river below is not seen from the chairs in Proa’s bar, nor can the inside of the bar be seen from outside. Explorations and annulments are projected from a set point.
Para estar a la altura, 2014
Structure coated MDF cement.
In 2008, Proa reopened after a major architectural reform that entailed incorporating two imposing glass windows as part of the facade. “The dream of a transparent and open museum that interacts with its surroundings has come true.” The café on the top floor of Proa features an enticing menu along with “a view of one of the most extraordinary landscapes in La Boca.” Paradoxically, that cherished view is obscured when you sit down at one of the café’s tables. The installation Para estar a la altura [To Reach the Height] consists of a platform that lifts up one of the tables and its chairs to provide a broader view of the landscape. From the platform, another vision of the interior/exterior relationship is possible. This work addresses the problem of limits and demonstrates that they are never set or precise. By means of a minimal gesture, this site-specific work effects a shift in our position. It lifts us up and lets us see a bit more of the outdoors than the terrace wall permits. The platform creates a slope, delimits a space that subtly highlights a difference from the surroundings. It formulates an interplay bound to limited access, the desire to be up there and see from that unique point of view not afforded by other tables.