Três Casas para a Humanidade: Casa de Água

The CASA DE ÁGUA project is the first in a trilogy of installations (CASA DE ÁGUA, CASA DE TEMPO and CASA DE AR) that problematize elements that will condition humanity in the coming centuries, from the construction of the cities and places we inhabit to the way we live as a society.

CASA DA ÁGUA is based on the work of visual artist Rui Soares Costa and his RISING project, which deals with the consequences of climate change, specifically the rise in the average sea level. In this work about the representation of time in pieces that seek to capture how this abstract concept can be transposed into visual objects, metal pieces are placed in the waters of the River Tagus at specific, predetermined heights in relation to the Hydrographic Zero, for a pre-specified time. Each piece will thus be (1) in a location specified by latitude and longitude coordinates, at (2) a specified height in relation to Hydrographic Zero, for (3) a predetermined period of time (number of days). Due to the effect of the tides, these pieces suspended from various positions on a riverside pier will either be completely submerged, partially submerged or completely out of the water. This effect of the rise and fall of the river water due to the tides will oxidize the pieces in a differential way, drawing on each one, depending on its height in relation to the hydrographic zero, the accumulation of time due to the movement of the tides on the metal. This equation, which computes a set of variable parameters (height of the hydrographic zero, days the piece is exposed to tidal variation, geolocation), aims to be replicated in 50, 100 or 200 years. Pieces of equal size and shape, arranged at the same height in relation to hydrographic zero, in the same geolocation, exposed to water erosion for the same number of days, will give rise to radically different pieces since in 50, 100 or 200 years’ time, the average sea level will be different – higher – so the pieces, although at the same absolute height in relation to hydrographic zero, will be submerged for longer overall than those made today, in 2021.

A CASA DE ÁGUA is an immersive project in collaboration between visual artist Rui Soares Costa, architect Pedro Campos Costa and multimedia artist, performer and choreographer João Galante, carried out under the GARANTIR CULTURA Program – Portuguese Republic – Ministry of Culture.