LIGA 27: José Cubilla (Pry)

Ambapy

LIGA 27: José Cubilla (Pry)

Ambapy

LIGA 27: José Cubilla
Ambapy
March– May 2018 (Offsite: Jardín 17, former Luis Barragán workshops)

In the cosmogony of the Guaraní people, Ambapy* is the name given to the celestial vault that sits on the plinth of the Earth. For his intervention at LIGA, Paraguayan architect José Cubilla based himself on this mythical image to focus on the element of earth and the origin of the planet as a recurrent theme in many cultures, one that is intrinsically connected to architectural practice.Using a tamping and curing process, over 1,300 kilos of earth are compacted to form a beam 5 meters in length which hangs from a wooden structure with four legs, crowned by a large stone that stabilizes the whole.

The system in equilibrium is both robust and fragile at the same time. Although the materials used are humble and plain, Cubilla’s project is a sophisticated construction. The architect uses the LIGA gallery space as a laboratory to test the limits of strength and resistance associated with earth, the material. A metaphor that reminds us that the Earth itself can also be exhausted, and that it is a universal responsibility to keep it in balance.

* Ambapy
The concepts of Amba and Ambapy are essential to understand the worldview of different Guaraní cultures across the territory of South America, from the Amazon basin to the missions of Argentina. A region that encompasses more than 85 language variants from a single shared stem.

Amba: Literal definition of the celestial vault, which speaks of the origin and location of what is “up there.” A space that is home to the mythical beings that founded the culture, according to Guarani thought.

Ambapy: The celestial vault here on Earth, where human existence happens and teko, being, is administered, sustained by this vault.

 

Photography: Luis Gallardo

The dwelling of things. Derives by Solano Benítez