Perceptible 3
Metal, fabric, and light bulbs
152 x 152 x 152 cm (approx.)
60 x 60 x 60 in (approx.)
Rio de Janeiro, 2003
Perceptible 3 was a site-specific installation that placed the idealized clean forms used in Perceptible Sun Clock against a precarious space in an old empty house at the São Cristovão Neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. But, instead of the fragile scale and delicate building materials this time the cube gained a different scale and much more robust structure. Instead of fabric and paper to filter and diffuse the light; this time the planes inside the cube that fragmented its space were covered with transparent and translucent glass, and instead of counting solely with the sun light there was one lamp covered in red connected to one of the cubes corners.
Different artists occupied the house and the event worked as a way to contest how museums and art spaces were been run in Rio at the time. The choice of which space to occupy in the house was decisive, the work was built in order relate to the scale of a place in the old kitchen where the oven use to be, and because the circulation around the work was impeded, the way the public approached it was to confront it with their body and watching all the mirroring effects produced in its inside.
Another important element of this site specific was the use of color plastic paper to cover the nearest window, a very powerful strong source of light the window functioned also as a time passing device that altered the experience of the space during the open hours of the show. For, in every hour the color exchanged between the red covered lamp and the blue covered window changed, producing a gradient of different tones in the mixture until the red would finally conquer the blue by nightfall.
Metal, fabric, and light bulbs
152 x 152 x 152 cm (approx.)
60 x 60 x 60 in (approx.)
Rio de Janeiro, 2003
Perceptible 3 was a site-specific installation that placed the idealized clean forms used in Perceptible Sun Clock against a precarious space in an old empty house at the São Cristovão Neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. But, instead of the fragile scale and delicate building materials this time the cube gained a different scale and much more robust structure. Instead of fabric and paper to filter and diffuse the light; this time the planes inside the cube that fragmented its space were covered with transparent and translucent glass, and instead of counting solely with the sun light there was one lamp covered in red connected to one of the cubes corners.
Different artists occupied the house and the event worked as a way to contest how museums and art spaces were been run in Rio at the time. The choice of which space to occupy in the house was decisive, the work was built in order relate to the scale of a place in the old kitchen where the oven use to be, and because the circulation around the work was impeded, the way the public approached it was to confront it with their body and watching all the mirroring effects produced in its inside.
Another important element of this site specific was the use of color plastic paper to cover the nearest window, a very powerful strong source of light the window functioned also as a time passing device that altered the experience of the space during the open hours of the show. For, in every hour the color exchanged between the red covered lamp and the blue covered window changed, producing a gradient of different tones in the mixture until the red would finally conquer the blue by nightfall.
Created over the course of 10 years (between 2002 and 2011), the Perceptible series followed and reflected significant changes in Gustavo Prado’s work, particularly regarding the viewer’s perception and the relationship between the artwork and space. Perceptible Sundial (2002) is the first work in the series and is presented as a cube (considered one of the simplest forms for human recognition), made with a wooden structure and covered with fabric and paper. Its relatively simple form becomes complex in its interaction with space (and time). Aspects such as the place where it is positioned, and the natural light that shines upon it (which changes throughout the day and from one day to the next), influence characteristics such as viewing angles, transparency, opacity, and shadows, making the perception of this work broad, varied, and almost unpredictable. It functions as a constant exercise in the viewer’s perception and the possibility of presence within space.
The following works in the series increasingly emphasize the installation dimension, expanding their scale in built environments with colored fluorescent lamps, fabrics, metal structures, presence sensors, and monitors. These are environments in which viewers are invited to be present, where external interferences are suspended, giving way to conditions of experimentation created and controlled by the artist, such as the use of color and the intensity of lighting, which directly affect the perception of space. Perceptible 8 (2005), for example, reproduces the form of Perceptible Sundial on an enlarged scale and, instead of relying on the sun, uses a set of lamps connected to the structure of the environment and presence sensors to shape the lighting of the space.
In the final works of the Perceptible series, the artist and the viewer engage with everyday space, outside the control and predictability of institutional spaces. This is the case with works like Perceptible Heraclitus River (2006). In this piece, a geometric structure was installed in different locations along a river in the city of Itaipava (a mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro). Over the course of 30 days, these situations were documented in photographs and videos, later edited into images that construct different perceptions from the presence of this object in a natural setting.
As a whole, the works in the Perceptible series draw attention to reality understood as a construction, always in progress—open, in process, and shaped by individual, political, social, and economic variables.
The following works in the series increasingly emphasize the installation dimension, expanding their scale in built environments with colored fluorescent lamps, fabrics, metal structures, presence sensors, and monitors. These are environments in which viewers are invited to be present, where external interferences are suspended, giving way to conditions of experimentation created and controlled by the artist, such as the use of color and the intensity of lighting, which directly affect the perception of space. Perceptible 8 (2005), for example, reproduces the form of Perceptible Sundial on an enlarged scale and, instead of relying on the sun, uses a set of lamps connected to the structure of the environment and presence sensors to shape the lighting of the space.
In the final works of the Perceptible series, the artist and the viewer engage with everyday space, outside the control and predictability of institutional spaces. This is the case with works like Perceptible Heraclitus River (2006). In this piece, a geometric structure was installed in different locations along a river in the city of Itaipava (a mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro). Over the course of 30 days, these situations were documented in photographs and videos, later edited into images that construct different perceptions from the presence of this object in a natural setting.
As a whole, the works in the Perceptible series draw attention to reality understood as a construction, always in progress—open, in process, and shaped by individual, political, social, and economic variables.
