Perceptible 9
Metal, fabric, light bulbs, and movement sensors
610 x 244 x 244 cm (approx.)
240 x 96 x 96 in (approx.)
São Paulo, 2006
This installation was shown at the “Rumos” exhibition at the Instituto Itaú Cultural of São Paulo, in March of 2006.
This installation placed in the entrance of a very busy cultural institution in São Paulo, was the first to focus entirely in the lamps as graphic elements and icons of the passing city landscape. The previous identity of the Perceptible installations of white structure and white fabric was now substituted all black fabric and structure. The two corridors had two different lamp positions, one of them had the lamps connected to the pillars and allowed for the spectators to cross it while activating the sensors inside; the other one had several groups of lamps hanging from the ceiling in progressing sequences of darkening tones of blue and different size sequencing lines. This corridor could not be crossed and had his sensors placed on the surrounding room in order to have the parallel transit of people activating the different sequences of lamps.
Metal, fabric, light bulbs, and movement sensors
610 x 244 x 244 cm (approx.)
240 x 96 x 96 in (approx.)
São Paulo, 2006
This installation was shown at the “Rumos” exhibition at the Instituto Itaú Cultural of São Paulo, in March of 2006.
This installation placed in the entrance of a very busy cultural institution in São Paulo, was the first to focus entirely in the lamps as graphic elements and icons of the passing city landscape. The previous identity of the Perceptible installations of white structure and white fabric was now substituted all black fabric and structure. The two corridors had two different lamp positions, one of them had the lamps connected to the pillars and allowed for the spectators to cross it while activating the sensors inside; the other one had several groups of lamps hanging from the ceiling in progressing sequences of darkening tones of blue and different size sequencing lines. This corridor could not be crossed and had his sensors placed on the surrounding room in order to have the parallel transit of people activating the different sequences of lamps.
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.
