A plant sprouts in the drain of a terrace and I wonder how that seed got there. How long would its roots take to grow over the entire building? After two weeks away, where there used to be a garden, a glimpse of nature reoccupies the area, a personality silently manifesting itself: a forest.

 

Cactus-orchid is a hybrid plant native to the tropical zones of America, its flower can open for just one night, or two days. Often camouflaged among the trees, in half shade, it can also be found in the kitschy vase of an apartment in some city center. In spring, its fleeting blossoming signals the nature of impermanence, suddenly it's gone, it's happened [1].

 

In addition to an analogy with the running time of the exhibition, there are dichotomies that coexist in this microclimate. Reflections sparkle in the running water, Secret pleasures take root [2] and plane tree seeds grow among the equipment of the old factory, an environment where there is no purely contemplative time or anything fragile and ornamental, all has been planned to be functional and productive. Behind the glasses, the movement of the cranes cuts the landscape while small flowers sprout from the grass in the cracks of the sidewalk.

 

Under the concrete, a garden crossed by paintings, sculptures and installations brings opposites together, evoking the dual and ambiguous force of the process of life and death. To observe plants is a specific way of looking at time and perceiving its movement, sometimes subtle, sometimes vertiginous. In the midst of Flora, fauna and myths [3], the intensity of the colors gradually fades, until a new flower blooms.

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[1] Fragment of the digital proto-poem by Heron P. Nogueira (2022).

[2] Maria Máximo (2024).

[3] Flora, fauna e mitos, Inês Brites (2024).

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Ana Grebler, Pedro Liñares & Pedro Barassi