Perceptible 4
Metal, fabric, and light bulbs
610 x 610 x 610 cm (approx.)
240 x 240 x 240 in (approx.)
Rio de Janeiro, 2003
This installation pays homage to Hélio Oiticica’s series “Relevos Espacias”, by crossing its forms comprised of folding planes painted in solid colors with projected light from both the gallery, and from the cube structure that surrounds the lifted relief and from which it hangs. The cube is the same used in “Perceptible 1” but at this time two of its walls are open, and in its floor there are 16 red lamps pouring light from bellow. The lamps seem to lift the volume above with the mere force of their light.
The whole structure is placed in a larger gallery and allows the spectators to walk around it, revealing another aspect of a structure that cannot be easily understood from either one side; and that struggles against the grounded static cube trying to give it a movement and direction. This work was installed for the exhibition “Projéteis de Arte Contemporânea” at Funarte (National Foundation for the Arts) in Rio de Janeiro, in June of 2003.
Metal, fabric, and light bulbs
610 x 610 x 610 cm (approx.)
240 x 240 x 240 in (approx.)
Rio de Janeiro, 2003
This installation pays homage to Hélio Oiticica’s series “Relevos Espacias”, by crossing its forms comprised of folding planes painted in solid colors with projected light from both the gallery, and from the cube structure that surrounds the lifted relief and from which it hangs. The cube is the same used in “Perceptible 1” but at this time two of its walls are open, and in its floor there are 16 red lamps pouring light from bellow. The lamps seem to lift the volume above with the mere force of their light.
The whole structure is placed in a larger gallery and allows the spectators to walk around it, revealing another aspect of a structure that cannot be easily understood from either one side; and that struggles against the grounded static cube trying to give it a movement and direction. This work was installed for the exhibition “Projéteis de Arte Contemporânea” at Funarte (National Foundation for the Arts) in Rio de Janeiro, in June of 2003.
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.
