The Human, the Plummet and the Column
Location: Edificio Corporativo Cámara Chilena de la Construcción.
Material: Wood and Steel
Dimensions: 9.00 x 1.75 x 0.80 mts.
Year: 2019

… ”to build is to dwell”

Martin Heidegger, Building, Dwelling, Thinking.

A natural condition of human beings is to interpret its surroundings and to establish relations that enable inhabiting space. To build is inherent to Humankind. We neither understand nor can we inhabit the world if not through a notion of construction, which is a human construct in itself. We are never more human than when we build.

Concerning the above, this project takes two essential elements from construction: on one side the representation of a column (which in itself is a representation of a human), as a fundamental building element. On the other side, a plummet or plumb line, an object/tool that in construction allows setting verticality as an absolute.

These two elements are fundamental for this piece, establishing subtle displacements from themselves to an Art Field, with its symbolic language, while not losing their original nature.

The presence of the column is established by an almost virtual construction, generated by steel strands stretched by the natural weight of the plummets.

Inspired by this element, approximately ninety sculptures have been created, and as they float in our memory, they reference the plummet used in construction. The pieces are a sort of homage to the discipline of construction and those who practice it.

The lightness of the volume and the suspension of weight are visual elements that generate tension, while simultaneously causing a state of stillness against the constant transit of people entering and leaving the building.

Regarding color, red has been chosen as a visual counterpoint to the monochrome hall of the building. At the same time, it allows the verticality and volumetry of the piece to be perceived better in contrast to that space.

Créditos fotográficos / Álvaro Mardones

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