Mutating Artefacts
Image: José Francisco Arias
After making 51 explorations, travelling 5,615 km and taking 4,391 photos, a total of 1,001 artefacts were catalogued both from the Cuencas and the adjoining townships and the big iron and steel producing areas such as Gijón and Avilés. All of them share a common factor inasmuch as being buildings with formal or functional features caught between the four landscapes identified in these mining areas: the natural, rural, industrial and urban.
From this total, 40 examples were selected for more detailed description. Rather than choosing the most outstanding constructions, the goal of this selection is to present a systematic, transversal and non-hierarchical overview of the numerous varieties identified. Sometimes a photo is enough to reveal the artefact’s interest. In other cases, a graphic analysis is needed to get beneath the subtle outer glaze of the image and reveal the significant volumetric configuration or internal workings. Finally, it is also possible that we have to seek even further, digging into the history concealed behind its surface appearance. Through these three resources: image, drawing and text, this show wishes to shape a multifaceted vision of architectures which are both complex and difficult to categorize.
Photography: Jose Francisco Arias
This section is present in the Exhibition Hall SabadellHerrero
