Wall Paper Wood – Tools for Exposure

Municipal Gallery Quadrum, Lisbon, 2010

They keep buildings, façades and sculptures from falling apart. They make sure that excavation and construction sites are safe, and still they are ignored or even left aside as soon as their mission is completed: all those wooden scaffoldings, steel poles and belt straps that support walls and façades. The installation Wall, Paper, Wood investigates the material qualities and the contradictory use of support structures as a detail in the vast field of archeology and architecture. Both on a physical and conceptual level, the wooden intervention at the gallery’s façade and the series of photos and drawings point at the limits of support that structures are able to provide for the duration and valorization of sites and monuments. A small publication accompanies the work, offering information on the research process and additional findings.

The work was commissioned by the city of Lisbon in the frame of the exhibition Lisboa como metáfora, curated by Antonia Gaeta.
Supported by the Culture Department of Lisbon Municipality and Goethe-Institut Portugal.