Collapse

A Cel Obert is a festival for temporary artinstallations at historic landmarks of the city of Tortosa (Catalunya, Spain). For the seventh edition, due to the Covid-19 breakdown, the teams' proposaldirected by Crist ina Bestratén was an edition in transition, a moment to thinkabout the notion of “pause” through an installation and a retrospectiveexhibition. The site chosen by the festival is the oldChurch of Dolors, in the historic center of Tortosa. Destroyed during theSpanish civil war, its monumental arcades, the six side-chapels and the mainentrance in ruins coexist in a unique public space. Collapse refers to this condition of ruin. A material gesture that seeks to freeze a specific instant: the breaking downof a wall. Collapseis a peculiar moment in matter transformation. The structuralefforts, invisible to the naked eye, show their natural tendencies, falling tothe ground. Through a subtle interplay of forces, the installation presented asa fragile equilibrium freezes that precise instant. An inclined plane whereheavy becomes light and transitory turns stable. A moment suspended in timethat means to reveal the poetics of balance. The wall is made from one hundred andtwenty dunnage airbags usually used to secure loads in transport containers. The production starts from an overlay of ten rows sewn in the workshop formedby an irregular bonding. The design dismisses the traditional form of buildingmasonry walls by adding pieces, to propose a rise propelled by air, inflatedfrom below, up to seven meters. On Sunday, the installation was forced tocollapse in a public event that announced the festival coming to an end. Thetensions accumulated are released in an action that breaks the frozen image ofthe wall. Collapse is a counter-monument that questions the ruins immersed inan apparent state of pause. Project name: Collapse Company name: MARTILLO NEUMÁTICO Website: Contact e-mail: neumaticomartillo@gmail. com