Starting Zone

Starting Zone, 2018 is a project developed in collaboration with the Art Basel Cities Program curated by Cecilia Allemani and in conjunction with the Ministry of Ambient and Public Space of the City of Buenos Aires.

The work is an interactive installation that blurs the line between architecture and sculpture. It is an open-air tower in a green space of the Plaza República Oriental del Uruguay and references the design of tension bridges, walkways, porches, and other constructed, in-between spaces that are usually made from industrial materials such as plywood, scaffolding pipes, and iron.

The elements employed to create the sculpture are left uncovered, as if a section of a building has been sliced open and the outer layers peeled away. The viewer not only sees the internal structure that would otherwise be invisible, but also is invited to climb on, sit in, stand on, and interact with it. Starting Zone allows the viewers to reach the metal and plywood tower and assume a bird’s-eye view of the plaza that had never before existed. With construction methods that are apparent, vulnerable, and anxious – the tower is held together only by scaffolding clamps – visitors may feel a euphoric lightness, as if suspended in air, or a crippling vertigo, as they realize the fragility of the built spaces we inhabit.

Press:

‘Artists and projects announced for first Art Basel Cities Week in Buenos Aires’
by Garreth Harris.
Art Newspaper, August 22, 2018.

‘Taking it to the limit: In the studio with Luciana Lamothe’
by Vanessa Bell.
Art Basel Newsletter, September 6, 2018.

‘In Buenos Aires, Art Basel Tests Its Ability to Mint New Cultural Capitals’
by Alina Cohen.
Artsy, September 12, 2018.

Starting Zone | 2018

Exhibition View: Hopscotch Rayuela | Art Basel Cities | Buenos Aires | Argentina
Architect: Guillermo Mirochnic, iRarquitectura | Assistants: Pablo laguarigue, Gabriel Fortunato Chalabe
Photograph: Oriol Tarridas