Serralves Pavilion
The Pavilion is part of Live Uncertainty: An Exhibition after the 32nd Bienal de São Paulo.
We chose to install the pavilion at the end of a long lane, aligned with the Central Parterre and the Serralves Villa. Our specific aim was to take advantage of this rare geometric relationship with the Park ― aligning the pavilion with the Villa (even if there is no visual relationship), with the lane, and even with the water mirror (now hidden). In contrast to the lane, which is dotted by young, equidistant and orderly Indian chestnut trees, the pavilion is surrounded by a larger vegetation that almost looks wild. And that's where a pure shape appears: a 6 x 6 meter cube. It is only when we’re inside the cube that we realize that part of the ground area is actually a water mirror, which extends beyond the pavilion itself, reflecting it and rooting it in the Park. The interior is a dark and empty space that has been created to house the video projection. Each of the four walls has the same dimensions as the floor and ceiling, and the crevices distinguish the sides of the cube and reveal its shape. It is also the crevices which relate the interior of the cube to the Park, framing the sky and the vegetation. The pavilion has a ‘hard’ shape and an almost urban implantation in the Park. We did not want it to be a foreign body. On the contrary, we wanted to ensure that from a distance it would look like a familiar construction that could have been here for many years. The choice of the outer material ― oxidized corrugated sheet ― is based on our ‘memories of the countryside’. It seems to us that it fulfils this objective, because it is a construction material that is sufficiently economic to be used in agricultural storage areas. However, as we approach the pavilion, its large size and ultra-regular shape begin to reveal that behind the rustic covering there is something quite different from agricultural implements. The covering itself, which seems quite rough from a distance, looks surprisingly similar to a velvet curtain close up, which refers to the ‘spectacle’ housed within the interior.
