DEMARCATION consists of the insertion of a large 31x31m and 50 cm high quadrilateral structure that defines the work area. Created by the assemblage of pre-fab spatial beans normally used for short-term events like concerts or sports facilities, this structure was placed directly on the sandy soil, with no foundations. The structure serves both as a dynamic border for the intervention zone – bench, table, step, bridge - and as a device that will welcome the public at the moments in which the performance takes place, generating a 1000m² open-air arena on the sands of Copacabana.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The SOIL MANIPULATION (a technique widely used in Rio de Janeiro to enable the occupation of its territory) served as the second act of the work. Matter already present in space – sand and water – was repositioned, radically modifying the current spatial configuration. The soil movement work was carried out with the aid of a small backhoe. At the centre of the intervention area, a hole of approximately 5 meters deep was dug. The depth was enough to form a small saltwater pool, linking the structure with the sea.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
At the end of the festival, the structure was dismantled and the place where it was installed became available again for any type of appropriation. The central hole was covered and the sand returned to its previous state. The metallic structure that served as demarcation was dismantled and its parts were transported to other locations to be reused. The architecture disappeared without leaving any material traces.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
Project description by gru.a
"The beach is the place of leisure, work, meetings, sexuality, repression, sleeping, playing, the place of the sun and much more. A territory of instability, transformation, and uncertainty. Its thin sand soil forms and deforms to the taste of time and according to desires. One person or several? The crossing of footprints confuses us and indicates multiple possibilities, hypotheses that occupy the imaginary and defy the possibility of prediction. As the day goes on, so do the wind and the tide so that, at dawn, the territory becomes available again, always open to what will come. The beach makes you think about time, about a way of being and not being ".
The 9th edition of TEMPO_FESTIVAL - International Festival of Performing Arts Rio de Janeiro - presents "The Beach and the Time", an installation by the artist and architect Pedro Varella with the performance created by the French choreographer Julie Desprairies. Both are participating in the Crossed Artistic Residency Program of the French Institute of Brazil, which took place in 2018 during the festival, and is scheduled to continue in France in 2019.
The installation "The Beach and the Time" is organized by two combined operations: demarcating and repositioning. The first consists of the insertion of a large 31x31m and 50 cm high quadrilateral structure that demarcates the work area while serving as a support for the reception of the public. The second occurs from the movement of the existing matter in the place - sand and water – that, repositioned, gives rise to a new topographic landscape. Combined, the two operations generate a scenario that gradually changes during the TEMPO FESTIVAL.
