Perceptible 1
_ Metal, Fabric, Light Bulbs, Wood
10 x 10 x 10'
Rio de Janeiro, October 2002

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The first installation of the “Perceptível” series is comprised of interdependent elements that are prepared to sequentially react to the intervention of the spectator. The gallery is occupied by a white cube structure that has all its walls covered with a white fabric that becomes transparent or translucent depending on its contact/proximity with light. In the opposite side to the gallery entrance there’s an entrance to the cube, inside the cube there are three cabinet structures each of them with four drawers. On top of the cabinets there are three white geometric objects that also have been covered with the same kind of fabric as the outer cube. The cabinets, besides being the base for the objects placed on top, are also light boxes, at their top there are openings that coincide with the bottom shapes of the objects. Inside each of the four drawers of each cabinet there’s a plate that has been cut out in some of the same shapes of the bottom of a specific object, and in each plate those shapes are covered with colorful transparent plastics.

The plates are assembled in a way so that when they are inserted in an opening between the light box and the object on top, each specific light projected over the object reveals on of its volumes and fills it with one specific color. The sequence of elements puts at the reach of the spectator three of the most essential elements of most of art’s mediums. The plate is two-dimensional, like a painting, the objects are dubious in there form since they can resemble both sculptures and architecture models, and the outer cube represents the white cube, the traditional modernist context in which art so commonly takes place.

When the spectators start manipulating the plates they realize that their experience with each object is transformed by their dedication to explore it, and that there action are altering the perception they have not only of the object itself but also of the whole environment that surrounds it. Further more, since a different person can manipulate each object, and all three can be manipulated at the same time the action taken by one spectator towards one of the objects alters the perception another spectator has of another object. Ultimately even those who are outside the cube can experience its changes while others interact with the cabinets, plates and objects. The individual experience that is traditionally had in an exhibition becomes a collective dialogue between the group of spectators and the installation itself.

The sequence of elements puts at the reach of the spectator three of the most essential elements of most of art’s mediums. The plate is two-dimensional, like a painting, the objects are dubious in there form since they can resemble both sculptures and architecture models, and the outer cube represents the white cube, the traditional modernist context in which art so commonly takes place.

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