Site specific art installation
Piscina das Marés, Leça da Palmeira, Portugal
July 2022 - installation developed at Atelier Diogo Aguiar, for Porto Academy 2022
From the three elements present at the tide pool at Leça da Palmeira (sea, sand and stone), the strongest presence is no doubt that of the stone. On all sides, the irregular, asymmetrical and sharp shapes rival the artificiality, politeness and orthogonality of the concrete, as if in an endless duel for that spotlight. This is precisely why they so harmoniously fit together.
Without the rocks, never would we pay any attention to the sobriety of the concrete's lines and without it the pride of the rocks would go unnoticed. If separated, they would not form the window to what should in fact be the protagonist of the design: the sea. In this game of superpositions and apparitions, one may almost forget the sea, that is set aside, in the background, perfectly bordered at the far end of the pool as a distant painting, a window or something unreachable and inaccessible. A place that is always seen from afar. And distant it is, just there at that beach.
Due to safety constraints, reaching this end of the pool and climbing on the rocks is not allowed, anyone who wants to go in the sea must access it through a couple of hidden ways distant from the centre of the project.
With the ocean placed as a background, it is hard to remember that it is so close. What makes us perceive the sea as the sea, and not as any other body of water, is its movement, that of the waves and tides. If we cannot directly see that movement, and notice the water clashing repeatedly against the rocks, we are not truly by the sea.
The tide is a natural and continuous motion of the ocean, ebbing and flowing, back and forth. The frame, on the other hand, is a static object made in order stabilize and protect something. It catches and centers the spectator’s eye, but also works as a window, separating the observed from the object he observes.
Tide, is the combination of these two elements. A simple rearrangement of the perspective to bring the tides closer to the pool, without having to relocate the whole architectural structure. It is also a frame. A filled one, that does not overpower the subject which it aims to highlight. And it couldn’t, since capturing and framing the borders of movement is an impossible feat.
Between the cold colors of rocks, concrete, and blue tones of the sea and the sky, it would be impossible not to be drawn to the vivid red of the shimmering vinyl sheet. Especially when it flows, just like the sea. This movement could only originate in the sea itself, as the vinyl, tied to five buoys, is subject to the ebb and flow of the tide and the strength of the waves.
It is a frame not of the waves themselves, but of ‘back and forthing’ movement of the water. It is a painting of that which names the pool: the Tides. A paradox is then formed as the frame is what brings the sea closer to the people and the pool, instead of further separating them.
A frame within a frame, the installation’s objective is not to make the sea directly or obviously visible, but to work as an ever present reminder of its proximity.
A frame within a frame, the installation’s objective is not to make the sea directly or obviously visible, but to work as an ever present reminder of its proximity.
Freehand drawn Piscina das Marés Floor Plan with artistic intervention
