LIGA 04: Carla Juaçaba (Bra)

Isostasy

LIGA 04: Carla Juaçaba (Bra)

Isostasy

LIGA 04: Carla Juaçaba
Isostasy
February – May 2012

Brazilian architect Carla Juaçaba starts from the idea that all architecture is a physical effort: the task of building implies work, force exerted on matter and the introduction of an abstract conception in the context of the terrain. High power magnets, guitar strings, marbles of green glass, metal pulleys and small brass strips create a composition in equilibrium that alludes to structural situations similar to the ones she has constructed. This installation highlights almost telluric physical tensions, with which architecture orders material and confronts gravity.

The title of the show, Isostasy, refers to the ideal gravitational equilibrium that regulates the height of continents and the depths of oceans, according to the density of rock-like masses. The term was first coined in 1889, when US geographer Dutton described this phenomenon of hydrostatic equilibrium of tectonic plates. As if the architect would have planned it in advance, in direct relation to the title of the show, this fragile installation collapsed on May 20, 2010, only 25 days after its inauguration, when an earthquake of a 7.4 magnitude on the Richter scale shook Mexico City. Even though the incident caused some losses, the work, which precisely expressed the fragility of a construction in equilibrium, was fully restored a few days later.

 

Photography: Ramiro Chaves

The will of things by Pedro Duarte

www.carlajuacaba.com