The Southern Cross, 27.04.2018
2018
fireworks
support: Independent space Ateliê 397
The Southern Cross 27.04.2018
Vídeo 2’03’’
2018/2021
Filming: Alexandre Wahrhaftig
Editing: Flora Leite e Alexandre Wahrhaftig
The Southern Cross is a constellation that can only by seen in the Southern hemisphere. It was discovered, or rathered, seen, by colonizers in 1500, and was responsible for making the navigation towards Brazil an easy route to calculate.
We could say Master João was its author, the scientist responsible for its first drawing, documented on a letter to the king of Portugal, Manuel, written in April 27th, 1500. That is where the date of my Southern Cross 27.04.2018 comes from, only 518 years later.
Redrawing the Southern cross with fireworks rises issues regarding representation, our views on history and its relation to nature, suggesting that even our view of something seemingly as fixed and timeless as stars has a historical context. That means it could also be reconstructed, re-imagined.
It happened at the margins of a damn called Represa Guarapiranga, leading to a situation very diverse within São Paulo’s art scene; away from our bustling downtown, sitting on the grass gazing at the starts, for a brief but rather powerful moment.
The Southern Cross will be made with fireworks on April 17th of 2018
Newspaper Ad – Metro, 10/11/2017, 31,75 cx 56 cm, 2017.
The Southern Cross was made with fireworks in April 27th of 2018
Witness list., 29,7 x 42 cm, 2018.
The Southern Cross 27.04.18
Digital print printscreen, 30×40 cm, 2018/2021.
Documentation from the exhibition Dizer Não, Ateliê 397, 2021. Images: Douglas Garcia.