BEATING LINE

Open Residency: João Palla (architect)

In collaboration with Pedro do Ó (designer/photographer) and João d’Olivença (constructor/photographer)

When: Exhibtion  from: Thursday 29th July to Saturday 31st July

Where: Drawing Spaces, Fábrica Braço de Prata, Rua da Fábrica do Material de Guerra, nº1, 1950 – 128, Lisbon

The act of BEATING (the) LINE where the momentum of drawing can be found: at the transfer from thread to line, from matter to mark, both blue. The line is ‘beaten’ horizontally and then elevated vertically. A line-up system is then set up guiding the elements which will constitute this work through a specific use and combination of straight lines.

If on bi-dimensional drawing the use of line might risk the ‘fixation’ of forms, here line is used as an element that configures real space, making it sensible. And in this case, by using the physicality of line as a kind of body, this also confers a certain kind of physicality to space which poses the supporting/tension points, the mesh, volumes and dynamics created by the line, in an immediate relation with the architectonic structures of the space to which it adheres. From the operator of lines to the visitor of the space, the physicality of different bodies and its movement in space will then become the sensible element sustaining this work.

From the various construction line-ups to the structural tissue and its movements, drawing might in this sense reside on the manifestation or elaboration of a speculative idea, familiar to drawing, articulated to a series of actions, familiar to specialized procedures to those who operate it. Transfer methods will be used to place a drawn line on a wall or floor, and lines will be arranged to configure a particular spatiality made evident through a particular materiality. This sequence of operations will finally constitute the «plastic object».

Joao Palla
João Palla, (Lisbon, 1971) got his BA degree in Architecture at FAUTL (1995). He has a Master degree in Design and Visual Culture by IADE (2006).
He collaborated with the Architect Manuel Vicente between 1990 and 1997 in Macau and Lisbon. In 1999 he completed a thesis under the title ‘Bamboo as a material for construction in Macau’ with a scholarship from the Orient Foundation, Lisbon. In 2000 he co-founded the Scriptorium Architects in Lisbon. He is an active member of the Architects without Frontiers Association – ASF Portugal. Presently he is developing a PhD on drawing as an interdisciplinary process at FBAUL. 
João Palla teaches at IADE since 2000.

Pedro do Ó
Born in Lisbon (1978). For a long time he has been using photography as a means to capture and reflect upon his surrounding world. Photography played always a main role throughout his Engineering Degree and Graphic Design Degree, and this had a great influence on the choice of subject for his Master in Visual Culture Thesis: “The photographer and the photographed subject: relation, staging or interference” (2010, IADE) which was developed under the supervision of the artist José Manuel Rodrigues. His interpretation of spaces was also enhanced by his experience with cinema (he worked as a photographic director in short-films), and by collaborating as a member of an Architecture Office.

João d’Olivença (1961)
Worked on a company in commercial and administrative areas. Was invited to develop his first construction work and specialized on several construction functions on his following works; working also on building maintenance. He then worked with the Architect Bruno Castro Santos as a construction manager, when he also started to specialize as an architecture photographer. Since then he has been working as a freelancer both in construction work and photography. For him, photography is an extension of construction.

For more information about BEATING LINE visit Drawing Spaces Website

Or visit Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/drawingspaces.espacosdodesenho

Related posts:

1. “…The drawing got legs and ran down the grocery store street…”
2. Where do you Draw the Line?
3. A Fine Line
4. IMPERMANENCES : Drawing Spaces Open Residency
5. Linha Do Horizonte