Future Perfect [II]: further images from the Lisbon Triennale

It's a sure thing that Future Perfect is one of the most interesting exhibitions at the Lisbon Architecture Triennale. Some weeks ago we showed you a few pictures of the show as an appeteizer, an now you can see the rest of the content, focused on physical displays. They think over cities where the tecnological progress would change the way we interact with our context, and even between us.

And Nowhere a Shadow, by Cohen Van Balen. Photography © Catarina Botelho. Courtesy of Lisbon Architecture Triennale. Click above to see larger image.

THE GARMENT DISTRICT.
by Bart Hess.

From this context of surveillance, facial recognition, avatars and virtual ghosts, we imagine a near future where digital static, distortions and glitches become a new form of ornament. Shimmering in the exhibition landscape is a network of geometric reflective pools of molten wax. Their mirrored surface is broken by a body, suspended from a robotic harness, plunging into the liquid. A crust of wax crystallises around its curves and folds, growing architectural forms, layer by layer, like a 3d printer drawing directly onto the skin. Slowly the body emerges, encased in a dripping wet readymade prosthetic. It is a physical glitch, a manifestation of corrupt data in motion, a digital artefact. They hang from hooks like a collection of strange beasts and frozen avatars. Body prints, imperfect and distorted and always utterly unique.

The Garment District, by Bart Hess. Photography © Catarina Botelho. Courtesy of Lisbon Architecture Triennale.

And Nowhere a Shadow (THE WILDS).
by Cohen Van Balen.

There is no nature anymore. We are wandering a new kind of wilderness, where the line between biology and technology is becoming increasingly indistinguishable. The woods, wild and mysterious from afar, appear as a stage on which every element is considered. Genetically engineered plants, artificially sustained, are hanging from the trees, embedded in the ecology yet detached from it. Their scaffolding systems of gleaming steel and neon light sway in the wind, waiting. Grey wolves approach the structures during the night to scratch their body on the steel branches. The wolf’s movements generate electricity for the system, while the blueberries are engineered to contain rabies vaccine to protect the animal from self-destruction.

And Nowhere a Shadow, by Cohen Van Balen. Photography © Catarina Botelho. Courtresy of Lisbon Architecture Triennale.

And Nowhere a Shadow, by Cohen Van Balen. Photography © Catarina Botelho. Courtesy of Lisbon Architecture Triennale.

Pushing Boundaries (THE SUPERCOMPUTER).
por Marshmallow Laser Feast.

Laid across the physical city is a virtual doppelganger, a ghost landscape of hyperlinks, geo tags, digital maps and satellite scans. The air is thick, charged with bits, bytes, electrons and energy fields. A network of tracking cameras follows us as we wander across this data city, our gestures and movements, translated and then beamed as dynamic forms of light that animate around us. Like flamboyant conductors, the audience interacts with an array of high powered projectors that give life to a luminous terrain of mountains, clouds and particles. By employing directional audio technology, a synthetic soundscape feels almost real, conjuring a visceral experience of a world currently hidden in screens, circuits and hardware. Follow paths of sound, listen for the edge of a surface, see it shimmer, and drift right through, like a rock falling in the sea.

Pushing Boundaries, by Marshmallow Laser Feast. Photography © Luke Haye. Courtesy of Lisbon Architecture Triennale.

Exhibition.- Future Perfect.
Venue.- Museu da Electricidade. Av. de Brasília, Central Tejo, Lisbon.
Dates.- September 12 - December 15, 2013.
Opening hours.- Tuesday to Sunday, 10.00h - 18.00h.

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