The matter of time as an experience in space
Diego Arregui, Peruvian artist currently residing in Chile, exhibits his work in Brazil for the first time, marking the recent interest of Zipper Gallery in promoting international exchange through the Zip'Up project.
The project by Arregui entitled Trap to distend space presents an installation which instigates the finding of ambiguity in perceptual processes. Its proposal establishes visual games which confuse the notion of depth, blurring the distinction between what is inside and what is outside; that which is inherent to the representation, or that which inhabits the shared reality. It reveals with poetic simplicity the extent to which the specificity of point of view inevitably conditions the understanding.
The procedure of the work is basically to darken a setting painted black so as to project a large-scale photograph, creating a dialogue with the architectural dimension of the locale. However, before reaching its destination in the background of the gallery, the projection is intercepted by two-dimensional surfaces strategically placed along its way, in such a fashion that the image also falls onto other planes floating in space, forcing the reconstruction of the scene by means of the cognitive sum of the parts. Therefore Diego Arregui deconstructs the photographic image into separate layers, and thereby produces gaps able to extend the time of apprehension.
In general, when standing before work of this nature, the observer instinctively tends to look for best positioning within the locale, where the logic of the image can be restored, unraveling the puzzle which recomposes the original frame.
Or, on the contrary, the subject may experience the work by circulating randomly, relishing the opportunity to walk inside an image, and to explore alternatives offered in each junction of fragments perceived from that unique position. Each angle variation exponentially multiplies the recognition of visual patterns, which at times connect to each other, and at others disengage from one another.
The gaps establish active empty spaces, just as the silence between notes and chords give rhythm to music, according to Arregui. The void is womb, the cradle of numerous latent potentialities that are slowly decanted and transformed into reality, before the eyes of those who perceive them.
The photographic record used in this work witnesses the ruins of a village in the north of Peru, called Chuyillache. This township was devastated during a serious natural disaster caused by El Niño in 1983. Diego Arregui photographed the abandoned houses by adopting a frontal perspective, in order to emphasize the barefaced aspect of surfaces. The scene shots take advantage of the remaining windows in the ruins, so as to portray a sequence of juxtaposed plans - the depth of which are even more emphasized in the setup of the installation.
Both the symbolism associated with the window and the ruins play significant roles in this project. The window allows for the see through view, pushing the boundaries of the space confined within a certain frame, from a particular perspective. It suggestively embodies the arbitrary dimension of perception, reminding us that space, just as time, is a subjective construction coded by the human mind. The ruins in turn, evoke the constancy of the past, always shaped by its interaction with the present. The past exists only in the reminiscences that survive in contemporary times, in the effect of the echoes acting upon the now. Both future and past exist only from the perspective of the present.
Denise Gadelha