Português
1 pm to 7pm
Continuing its annual exhibition program of 2019, Pivô presents Instant Weather Prediction: the first solo show by the Argentinian artist Eduardo Navarro in Brazil.
In his work Eduardo Navarro investigates possible points of convergence between art and science, dedicating special attention to the possibility of dialogue between natural forces and species. The artist frequently works with collaborators from various technical fields which help him develop special displays, to investigate the effects of natural phenomena in the human experience. This opens new possibilities of contact and interaction with the immediate surroundings. Navarro’s performances and installations often rely on dancers and volunteers to be activated. His projects range from complex choreographies, sculptures and installations to edible drawings, focusing on the sensorial in order to approximate the observer and what is observed, hence “becoming” the subject study.
Instant Weather Prediction is a project commissioned by Pivô and presented in its main exhibition space. Navarro departs from his interest in the wind movement to conceive a large installation comprised of 30 garments that resemble physical meteorological stations that will be activated by dancers throughout the exhibition. This project follows a methodology the artist has used in previous works such as In Collaboration with the Sun, 2017, and Instructions from the Sky, 2016, in which Navarro developed special apparatuses in an attempt to “sync” with the clouds and the movement of the Sun. For Instant Weather Prediction the artist created a windsock-gear that expands the connection between the body with the wind.
To develop the outfits, Navarro looked closely into the cartographic representation of air currents over the Earth and observed the potential of the functioning of wind indicators as instant choreographers, better known as windsocks. In Portuguese the windsocks translate as “birutas”, which also means a crazed person. Both the figurative poetic meaning and the utilitarian value of the object interest the artist. The windsock empties or fills with air indicating the wind direction from which the winds come from. Surprisingly, this analogical device is still crucial to the organization of air traffic worldwide.
The outfits created by the artist are made of nylon fabric – most commonly used in parachutes and umbrellas – yet, when activated by dancers, they stage a “ballet” where the wind becomes the central force that guides the movements turning into an instantaneous, invisible choreographer. To create this dance Navarro developed, together with the dancer and choreographer Zélia Monteiro, a series of movements in which they investigate the visual strength and the mechanical efficiency of the outfits when in contact with the air wind currents outside Pivô. There will be two public activations of the outfits by a group of dancers and students, scheduled for the opening and closing of the exhibition, as well as public programs in which visitors are invited to activate the work.
When not in use, the outfits occupy Pivô’s space in sleep mode, awaiting for “meteorologistdancers” to activate them. The artist requested for the windows to remain open throughout the duration of the exhibition, allowing the air currents to circulate and set the suits in motion, constantly responding to weather variations.
Instant Weather Prediction was made possible through a partnership with Inclusartiz Institute, and it is a project in which Navarro points to a form of sensorial technology that triggers connections between the body, the urban space, and nature. For years, he has been exploring ways of transforming perception to investigate new kinds of connections between the human being and his environment.
Opening: June 15th from 3 pm to 7 pm (activation throughout the opening)
Last activation: July 27th from 3 pm to 5 pm
Ending: August 03 from 1 pm to 7 pm
Wind, Water, Stone
For Roger Caillois
Water hollows stone,
wind scatters water,
stone stops the wind.
Water, wind, stone.
Wind carves stone,
stone’s a cup of water,
water escapes and is wind.
Stone, wind, water.
Wind sings in its whirling,
water murmurs going by,
unmoving stone keeps still.
Wind, water, stone.
Each is another and no other:
crossing and vanishing
through their empty names:
water, stone, wind.
(Octavio Paz, Wind, Water, Stone)
There are ever-present gusts of wind at Copan. I believe these are caused by the building’s S-shaped façade funneling the wind into the many exposed entrances leading from the pedestrian street, and the open-plan ground floor. The strong winds often make it difficult to walk the corridors of the shopping gallery or to use the balconies in the building’s mezzanine. The Argentinian artist Eduardo Navarro visited the exhibition space at Pivô for the first time on a day of screaming winds.
Still today – in the highly computerized environment of pilots and air traffic controllers – a simple mechanical object is used to measure the direction and intensity of the wind: the windsock. The mechanism consists of a cone made of light fabric with openings on both sides. The larger side is attached to a metal ring, allowing the textile to follow the movement of air currents. The direct and fluid interaction between these objects and the wind is the inspiration behind the project Instant Weather Prediction, which has been commissioned by and exhibited for the first time at Pivô.
The exhibition was named after a book of the same title: a sort of seafaring manual that explains visual techniques to instantly predict the weather through a careful analysis of the movement of clouds. As well as Navarro’s obstinate observation of natural phenomena – the key methodology of empirical sciences – in his projects, the artist proposes to ‘inhabit’ his topics of interest, in this case: the wind. As such, he developed a meteorological suit that combines a type of helmet with a windsock attached and a cloak made of over-layered nylon and other light high-tech fabrics. The apparatus connects the body with the surrounding air.
The variations in wind currents impact the movement of those who wear the suit, producing either a harmonic interaction or a clash between the subject and the environment. In collaboration with ballet dancer and choreographer Zélia Monteiro, based in São Paulo, Navarro developed an inventory of movements to activate the suits, in which ballet dancers investigate their visual potential and technical efficiency. The activation takes place both collectively and individually, always in response and in relation to the wind currents inside and around Pivô. At the opening and closing of the show, the public is invited to watch the whimsical wind-ballet conceived by the artist, performed by a group of dancers and ultimately choreographed by the wind.
When not in use, the thirty outfits are displayed at Pivô as a kind of meteorological-station installation, where they are placed in a line of freestanding metal structures as if they were waiting for their meteorologist-dancers. The artist requested that the windows remained permanently open so the head-windsocks are always slightly moving, dancing according to the weather for the duration of the exhibition.
A prediction combines the reading of a set of indicial relations and some degree of speculation about something that is yet to happen. This type of conjectural language is an attempt to deal with – or perhaps attenuate our anxiety in relation to – life’s unpredictability. From Weather Channel bulletins to psychic readings, the willingness to predict the future is a mental habit and a daily practice in many cultures. Navarro is mostly interested in the arbitrariness of human efforts to circumscribe natural phenomena. His gaze turns to a type of interaction with nature that detracts from scientific reasoning and Cartesian thought. Despite the exhibition’s assertive title, the artist is not proposing to measure the speed of the wind or to understand the displacement of atmospheric gases, his emphasis is on the intangible aspect of wind: an imperious force that whistles melodies, upturns boats, moves birds and prevents us from lighting a cigarette.
For many years Eduardo Navarro has been investigating possible relations between science and art – drawing on magical and metaphysical narratives – to deconstruct normative contexts and propose new ways of relating to the environment through a sensorial, humored and uncanny approach. The artist questions any form of anthropocentric or utilitarian view of the world and always opts to freely turn into or inhabit other creatures, times and forms, like a sort of quantic shaman that dispenses with rituals. Copan’s wind currents are the main catalyst behind this exhibition. The ballet dancers revere the wind and wait for its instructions to move or not move in the space, whilst Navarro plays the role of an absurd oracle trying to somehow mediate the insidious relationship between moving air and bodies in the space.
Shall we call the wind? Hopefully it will come and change the course of the ballet currently underway.
