Time Machine

Time Machime, examines the predominance of anthropocentric ontologies of perception and proposes, like its wider body of practice, that art and artistic practice have the means to visibilise what is otherwise imperceptible. Departing from traditional static art, this exhibition integrates photography, movement, interactive sound and radio elements. The work, which establishes a conversation with the physical space of the here and now, also pulses with dynamic sound and visual effects, offering a sensory journey that extends beyond the confines of the gallery space. Time Machine builds on Igor Jesus’ previous works, including Poem of Fire (2021), where he mixed classical and electronic music with light and astrological activity. Inspired by the unfinished work of Russian composer Alexander Scriabin (1871-1915), Poem of Fire explored the modelling of sound from the visual, using a NASA database to translate solar impulses into music. Drawing inspiration from previous experiments, Time Machine invites viewers to engage with a living sculpture, a space of meditation, a space of liminality, through a different kind of discourse. The artist’s ability to translate visual stimuli into auditory experiences creates a synaesthetic encounter, challenging conventional notions of artistic vision.

Given its fidelity to his research-based practice, the installation functions as a natural progression of a type of exploration that simultaneously pushes the boundaries of expression and public involvement and creates new discursive and epistemic material in the field of perception. Finally, by framing the multisensory elements of the piece in the Antecâmara Gallery, it is possible to imagine that Jesus’ narrative infuses the empty spaces of the building’s architecture, while also stretching beyond the confines of the gallery due to the exhibitionism-ready windows of the space. It would be a laborious attempt to define the threshold between inside and outside, where the skin of the work of art truly ends. Instead, Time Machine serves itself up as a transient, translatory experience with a phenomenon that is more than human.

This is the second of three exhibitions at Antecâmara, part of “AYNI. THEOREMS OF RECIPROCITY”, a series of five project rooms at Brotéria, Antecâmara, HANGAR and Universidade Católica Portuguesa that will feature works by Rita Ferreira, Igor Jesus, LANDRA (Sara Rodrigues and Rodrigo Camacho), The Third Thing (Nithya Iyer and Vlad Mizikov) and Jabulani Maseko.
Curated by students from the MA and PhD programme in Cultural Studies, The Lisbon Consortium, Universidade Católica Portuguesa. With the support of the Portuguese Republic – Culture | DGARTES – Directorate-General for the Arts.