Tuesday, December 20, 2016

0357 - Winter solstice at Perdigões enclosure


Today, for several reasons, was a special day for Perdigões.
One of them was the celebration of winter solstice (also tomorrow). So, we were there this morning, with 2o of temperature, watching the sunrise just in front of Gate 2 (same happened in the Summer solstice in front of Gate 1 – not so cold though), confirming the gate orientations to the solstices.
First, we put a long stick to mark the entrance. And as you can see, in picture one the arrow signals the post just in front of the Sun, and in picture two a “phantom sun” is just hitting the post.



A text that I wrote for an exibition about Perdigões (don’t feel like translating it):

“A visão do mundo está em tudo. Nas práticas, nos objectos, nas arquitecturas.
O Sol pauta as estações do ano, os ciclos agrícolas e da vida animal. Pauta o tempo cíclico do eterno retorno, expresso pela circularidade. Gera a luz e a escuridão, metáforas de vida e morte.

E a arquitectura, expressando-o, arredonda-se e orienta-se. A paisagem constrói-se de forma a sugeri-lo. Os objectos representam-no.”