SOLO: A Fluid Reactive Surface

You might remember Rejane Cantoni and Leonardo Crescenti as the Brazilian artist duo behind Espelho, a piece that was featured last summer at our Creators Project São Paulo Event. Although very fun, the interactive piece, which distorts people’s reflections as they walk towards it (like a funhouse mirror), wasn’t very telling of Cantoni and Crescenti’s work. The artists are known for pieces like PISO and Água, which delve into the realm of reactive surfaces in a more immersive way.

Their latest piece SOLO is a fixed installation within the Capela do Morumbi, a cultural exhibition space in São Paulo. It’s a surface made of interconnected metal plates, activated by the impact of the human body. Much like in PISO, which was exhibited at FILE 2010, radial “ripples” move across the extent of the installation when patrons step on the surface. When stimulated, the metal plates then reflect ambient light, projecting visual undulations on the roof of the former chapel space. The effect produces an immersive environment instigated by simple human chain reactions.

The composition of movement, light, and balance occurs only in the presence of several people, who together give an organic fluidity to a floor that would exist only as a metal surface without its audience.