Notes on Process

Exploration of interactions between body, materials and place.

Non pas impression et expression mais inspiration et expiration. Du langage qui passe par le corps. Aller découvrir la multitude, la conversation des lignes, des formes, des matériaux.  Permettre aux lignes de communiquer. Découvrir la conjonction des lignes, du lieu et des formes, souvent dans l’espace vide. Faire en défaisant et devenir consciente de ce que le matériel peut dire en l’activant et lui laissant de la place. Penser la perméabilité. Construire une structure et la défaire, révéler la structure plutôt que de la forcer. Prendre conscience de l’espace, du lieu, des traces, du temps, de ce qui s’est passé avant. L’utiliser pour faire évoluer, vivre le travail. “Capturer” ces moments, oser être étonné. Consolider des méthodes et s’harmoniser avec un élan, un rythme interne et connecté à ce qui entoure, sur la durée. Permettre l’accidentel, en faire un jeu et le rendre fertile. Bouger encore. Intercepter la rationalisation qui stoppe le processus. Agir plus vite ou arrêter simplement pour un temps, regarder ailleurs.  Ne pas forcer ou alors permettre d’effacer, de réorienter. Confondre, co-fondre, Confusion, co-fusion, mêler ensemble, unir. La trace parle, le résidu vit. Aller dans le corps du processus. Alterner entre allégresse et concentration profonde. L’émergence d’un souffle. S’oublier. Respirer.

Not impresson and expression, rather inspiration and expiration. Leaving meaning behind to discover a language through the body. Discovering multiplicity, conversing with lines, forms and materials. Mapping connection lines. Discovering the conjunction between lines, space and materials, often in empty spaces. Making by unmaking and becoming aware of the language of materials by giving them space. Thinking permeability. Making a structure and unmaking it, to reveal it. Becoming conscious of the space, the place, of time and traces, of what happened before. Using it to allow the work to evolve. Capturing moments, daring being surprised. Consolidating methods and attuning to inner rhythms, connected to what surrounds, over time. Allowing the incidental, playing with it, making it fertile. Moving again. Intercept the rationalisation that stops the process. Acting quicker, or simply stop, for a while, looking somewhere else. Not forcing or allowing to erase and re-orient. Confusion, co-fusion, mixing, uniting. Traces talks; residues live. Going to the core, into the body of the process. Alternate between joy and deep focus. The emergence of a pull. Forgetting oneself. Breathing.

Echoes of Interaction, June 2025, body, jute, dust of jute, found wires, found box, ink, water, iron, unmade fens, found bricks, core samples, wood, rust, ink and charcoal on paper, acrylic paint on photographs, tape, dimensions variable, Pada Studios, Barreiro, Portugal. Photograph: Ricardo Gonçalves

Activating the CONVERSATION- May at Pada Studios

The second part of my residency took the flavour of a moving conversation with space and materials. When I was accustomed to the space, its surroundings and activated/interacted with the materials over time, a consolidation appeared. I was actively searching for a fluid open structure, the connection to the space became more prominent as well and the interconnection between multiple materials. My body movements became an entire part of the work, and my agency travelled from intending to listening and responding for a common choreography to take place. The interconnection in space became more articulated.

I also started using digital film as a composition medium and activating natural elements such water that have a much less controllable and more independent agency. It seems important for the work to be active in my absence, with natural elements, moving documentation and contingencies. My role shifted in month two as a catalyst and conductor of this moving ecosystem, between consolidation and improvisation.

Getting accustomed - April at Pada studios in Barreiro, Portugal

Here are some extracts of the first month of my residency at Pada studios in April 2025.

I have explored over two months interactions between body, space, time and materials in search for language. It was a durational experimental and performative process work.

Over two months, I have worked with site specific materials, found objects, paper, ink, tape, photography, video and pre-made impacts in the space. I moved my drawing practice in new fields and used documentation as on-going feeding material, exploring the construction of /engagement with an evolutive ecosystem. What is important for me in such a project is the idea of active space, body, time and materials, the notion of duration, the attunement to inner-rhythms and the permeability to what surrounds. 

Pada studios are situated in an old Jute factory in the middle of post-industrial park.

One of the thought-starters was making through unmaking.