Classroom (1999–2003), Escola Básica Paulino Montez.
Classroom (2014), Escola Básica Paulino Montez.
In 2014, the Primary School Paulino Montez (Lisbon) was the target of a process of requalification. As a former student, I watched the first few months of this transformation. The building was stripped down to its architectural and structural elements, with everything else discarded and left scattered around the premises. However, the transformation suddenly came to a halt, leaving the process incomplete.
CENTRO E TREZE I
Documentation of Centro e Treze I, installed at my former
primary school.
Centro e Treze I
Made in my old classroom (1999–2003), Centro e Treze I
was an installation made with debris resulting from the
requalification of the school. The work featured five concrete
sculptures, each the size of a primary school desk, serving as
containers filled with a mixture of cement, sand and debris
collected from the schoolyard.
CENTRO E TREZE II
Installation view at FBAUL,
Lisbon. 2015
Centro e Treze II.
Wooden formwork; remains from the installation
Centro e Treze I; two containers, 120×100×300 cm;
TV; speakers.
Video 10 sobre 11, duration 00:06:48; DV PAL; 4:3;
colour; stereo sound.
Centro e Treze II
The remains of Centro e Treze I were collected and
relocated to the Faculty of Fine Arts in Lisbon. Using the same
wooden formwork, the debris was placed into two wooden
containers. The installation was accompanied by
10 sobre 11, a video documenting the construction and
destruction of the original work, and a sound piece featuring
a 2015 field recording that captured the ambient sounds of the
classroom of my former teacher.