27 Jan 2014

Rectangle Disorder at Leal Rios Foundation

Excerpts of A LABYRINTH OF HAIR, a text by Pedro De Llano

Square Disorder (2008), part of the Leal Rios Foundation Collection (Lisbon), was renamed Rectangle Disorder for this presentation, and is the result of several years of research by Susana Mendes Silva […] The work can be physically described as an orthogonal grid, made from dark brown artificial hair – the same colour as the artist's. From the top hang long strands of hair of about a meter and half in length, forming a kind of 'forest of lianas or fine rain', as the artist Andre Guedes described it expressively. At its first presentation, in Appleton Square, the installation was lit by natural light coming through an L-shaped window, which runs through two of the four walls of the room.

Surprised by a piece that can only fully be appreciated in proximity and whose immateriality is increased when it is bathed in sunlight, the viewer must decide whether or not penetrate it. Many do so without hesitation, so they can play and experience it. Some remain outside, as voyeurs. Inside, the artwork provokes a set of contradictory feelings. The fragility of the hair causes some apprehension, enhanced by the fact that it is a work of art. However, overriding this fear, the artwork offers itself up, welcoming, to be touched and caressed. This duality produces a phenomenon of attraction and repulsion, which is both physical – even on a level as subtle as static electricity – and psychological. All this translates into an experience, to some extent, dreamlike, surreal; as if the 'forest of lianas' could suddenly become a jungle of fine underwater algae.

The work can also be perceived as a drawing in space. As an orthogonal but organic structure, which contrasts with the severity of the architecture. Attached to a joyful and sensual rhythm, Square Disorder deadens the harshness of geometry. […] The characteristic 'motion' of the work, gently cradled by air currents in the room, is transmitted as an invisible vibration to viewers, who find themselves exploring ways forward, tenderly separating the 'lianas'. It suggests to us the image of a mime gesturing with empty hands to pass between the hairs. The presence of other people certainly works as a reflection. It facilitates an intimate encounter that serves as a basis for the performance, divided into three stages (opening, interlude and closing), which Susana Mendes Silva and Miguel Pereira prepared for this new presentation at the Leal Rios Foundation.

[…] Given a constellation of referents, ranging from popular culture to psychoanalysis, the work of Susana Mendes Silva can be viewed, taking into account its sophisticated combination of tactility, eroticism and intimacy, as a caress whose effect varies depending on the person who receives it: from tenderness to possibly some kind of farfetched sexual perversion, as those we sometimes hear about from Japan. Pursuing this thread, there would be another way to experience Square Disorder, in which its serenity and softness would suddenly be transformed into something obsessive, compulsive. The gentle loving gesture of these endless fingers would metamorphose into a jealous embrace that resists our departure […]