That Pink Thing
That Pink Thing is a temporary intervention created to reveal a dormant IVAM (Institut Valencià d'Art Modern) – a parallel IVAM whose design was based on the modern logics of solidity and rigidity. The objective is to bring about a space that responds to contemporary issues in terms of energy, ecosystems, politics, the public sphere and sensitivity. Its material state, as an alter ego of the existing structure, will be organic, soft, flexible, damp, porous and alive. All of this is goes towards replacing the sweltering feeling of walking across the museum plaza in the summer with a refreshing and languid experience that invites visitors to spend a little more time in the museum’s surroundings.
That Pink Thing is a call to attention above the prophylactic layer of the urban land to champion other material forms and consistencies. The objective is to change the perception of the plaza as a space used exclusively for transit on the way to the museum, to that of an outdoor area that can be used for cultural activities in a hedonistic setting, all the while protected from the harshness of summer.
That Pink Thing takes into account the environmental performance of the institution. On the one hand, the intervention shades the museum’s main entrance, which, due to its western-facing facade, receives intense sunlight in the summer. At the same time, the use of textile and plant elements on a large scale serves to condition the plaza at the same time that it considerably reduces the building’s energy consumption. The slanted sections of textiles allow air to circulate from the cooler areas to the hotter, upper zones, improving the perceived outside air temperature through air movement.
That Pink Thing is also ascribed to a local cultural imagery – its plant-based materials linked to the agricultural tradition and recreational gardens of the Vega de Valencia. The installation is designed in accordance with the logic of the circular cycles of life, so that all of the plants can be reused somewhere else once the intervention is over.
That Pink Thing was carried out by the Mexican artist Jerónimo Hagerman in conjunction with the architects María Langarita and Víctor Navarro. It is part of a research project called Busto y Pellejo that they have been working on for more than 10 years, and which has served to help them challenge preestablished ideas about public space, and propose design alternatives for the city.
