Rui Toscano - The Great Curve

Rui Toscano, The Right Stuff, 2008-2009. Photo © DMF, Lisboa.

Chiado 8 Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon

By Ekaterina Rietz-Rakul & Steve Schepens

The exhibition “The Great Curve” of Rui Toscano (1970, lives and works in Lisbon) presents recent works of the artist, in which he follows up his interest in science fiction, rock music and film. Five diverse works displayed in the show are visibly united by one iconic element - a circle. By exploiting multiple meanings and interpretations of this symbol, the artist poses questions about and changes perspectives on our world, its material and ideological structures. Going through the exhibition, the viewer joins the artist on his search for answers about our home planet.

“The Great Curve” - is as well the title of a sculpture, presented in the exposition. It is a large glossy black telescope. And it is blind. The tube flawlessly sealed on one the side has an open eyepiece. Looking inside, a viewer discovers a straight line of tiny lights in the dark, and is reminded of the aisle lights in a cinema or a landing runway. It is a rather pessimistic answer to our exploratory ambitions at first sight. However, being the title of a Talking Heads song about an unsolvable mystery of a world, it gives an ironic touch to the work and the exhibition.

The telescope’s blind viewer points at a wall with a round window, through which one can see a video projection of a hypothetic view of Earth covered by clouds from an orbital space station - seen either through the telescope of a luckier surveyor in outer space, or through a spacecraft illuminator.
It is possibly from one of those spacecrafts, which keeps launching in the video of The Right Stuff installation. The work displays appropriated footage on a small screen installed on a large round platform. So, is the answer to be found in the vastness of space? Or does it lie right in front of us, in the ideal sphere? Revealing the artist’s background as a painter, the light installation Woman and Child seems to be the most obvious manifestation of the symbolic meaning of a circle. It represents a larger circle embracing a smaller brighter one. The inevitable religious association is supported by the choice of warm golden coloring. Its antipode, sound installation Super Corda (The Super String), is a big black wall with a black hole and a thick string attached to it. This work is not only an allusion to the artist’s interest in music, but also to the so-called Superstring theory. This physical theory claims to explain the origin of the universe by the existence of yet undetectable minimal particles - vibrating strings. So, playing this oversized instrument, the viewer can feel like Demiurge, the omniscient godly figure.

Curated by Bruno Marchand
October 9 - December 31, 2009

Filed Under: Reviews