Outcome of the event, 2022


14 objects (glasses, ballpoint pen, notebook, hairpin, eyeliner, mirror, ring, earrings, necklace with pendant, cigar, cigar cutter, matches, pin, pair of shoes) coated in copper through the electroforming process, fixed on a plate opaque red acrylic; beech plywood box with laser engraving.

18x150x50cm

Desenlace do acontecimento

Desenlace do acontecimento [The event’s outcome] is the glorification of the love which the chosen person, alive and available to receive this emotion, arouses in the other. The chosen objects can have various readings, and who they represent is not immediately apparent. Addressing gender issues, these objects all belong to an entity unknown to the spectator — who is invited to appropriate them in a way that gives body to who they see represented there. This piece, therefore, needs the spectacular to become a participant, to fill in the blanks. Whether it is a projection, fabulation, or even a total appropriation, the piece does not exist without the one who sees it.
These objects symbolize not only love, and fascination, but also desire. This feeling transpires in its different meanings as we go through the piece and discover which objects have been chosen. From a cigar (associated with the masculine side) to the sharp hairpin, we are invited to draw upon this strange object of desire.

These fourteen intimate objects are associated with three categories: intellect, ornament, and feeling of self. Engaging in semantic recombination, these categories fit into seven categories, which I describe through an anthropomorphic model.

head – reason/intellect:
glasses, notebook, pen

eyes – seeing/feeling of self (the act of painting oneself):
eyeliner, mirror

mouth – speaking/ornament:
cigar and cutter

neck – life/ornament:
necklace with shrimp

heart – emotion/ornament:
pin

hands – making/ornament:
ring, mirror, cigar, cigar cutter, matches,
pen, notebook

feet – walk/ornament:
pair of shoes

This sculpture was created using electroforming technology, a chemical process of depositing a layer of copper on chosen objects. The choice of copper, a malleable material with an orange color, makes harmony between the parts possible: the red acrylic at the base, the color of blood that binds an idea of power, and the coppered objects complement each other. This technique consists of encapsulating everyday objects by coating them in this material, which keeps all the details of the original objects, such as marks of use, imperfections, and even original texture.

This unique and unrepeatable piece marks the beginning of a new phase of a work that has been continuously focused on the issues of everyday life.

Ana Pérez-Quiroga
Lisbon, May 8, 2022