04 Dec 2010

Ana Holck at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro

Uninhabiting

'I exist in life with only on the condition of seeing', wrote Le Corbusier. The architect conceived of the horizontal window as a structuring element in his projects. Their inhabitants are constituted by this very limit, which alienates them from nature while simultaneously framing the latter and referring it back to vision. In this scenario, inhabiting follows from viewing. It is not by chance, Ana Holck's work Fuga (2004) intervened on the window of a major monument of the Corbusian tradition, the Palácio Gustavo Capanema. Assorted patches of window film were applied on the window, punctuating it with different levels of opacity. To cover or to reveal, to obstruct or to make way – these are the axes along which space is articulated in the artist's practice.

In Bastidor, Holck continues to address the sculptural potential of a familiar part of the Rio de Janeiro urban landscape, the hexagonal block paving. But the autonomy of the sculptural object is now exceeded, as she reclaims an earlier concern of her work, namely the way the occupation of space can derive from a formal dialogue with its limits.

Holck's move is threefold. The starting point is a simple displacement: the unearthed block has its massive and surprising physical presence materially reaffirmed by the weight and the opacity of concrete. But the repetition of its hexagonal form in alveolar polycarbonate immediately upsets this state of things: the material is now light and translucent. It forms a screen that cuts through the room, demarcating our potential trajectory. But this same screen is punctured by the absence of numerous hexagons, which heightens the discrepancy between visual access and bodily obstruction. By the same token, the participation of light and shadow in the formal configuration of the work becomes evident. We walk the fine line between a solid sculptural presence and its disintegration. Vision is rendered uncertain, signaling our failure to fully inhabit it; a feeling of self-estrangement settles in.

Sergio Bruno Martins

Biography
Ana Holck. was born in 1977 in Rio de Janeiro where she lives and works. Since 2001 she has presented her large scale instalations mostly in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Among her main exhibitions are 'Lugar Algum', SESC Pinheiros (2010), Os Amigos da Gravura, Museu da Chacara do Céu (Rio de Janeiro, 2010), 'Notas sobre Obras', Mercedes Viegas Arte Contemporânea e Galeria Virgilio (2006); 'Canteiro de Obras', Paço das Artes (2006); 'Elevados', Paço Imperial (2005); e 'Quarteirão', Centro Universitário Mariantonia (2004). Her work has been presented in several group shows such as Trilhas do Desejo, Rumos Itaú Cultural (2009); Borderless Generation, Korea Foundation, Seul (2009); Nova Arte Nova, CCBB (2008). In 2009 she was awarded the Prêmio Funarte de Artes Plásticas Marcantonio Vilaça, and also UniversidArte Prize in 2007, and Projéteis FUNARTE, in 2005. As an architecture students she received Paviflex Prize (IAB/ SP, 2001) and Arquiteto do Amanhã (IAB-RJ, 2000). In 2004, she received the grant Programa de Bolsas RIOARTE, from The City of Rio de Janeiro . Her works are in many public colections such as Itaú Cultural; MAM São Paulo, MAM Rio de Janeiro (col. Gilberto Chateaubriand); e MAC-Niterói.