A black, square box that seems to float, suspended, in the lower part of Serralves’ gardens. Almost imperceptible, an “anonymous door” in a large monolith, with simple lines, opens the door to an immersive and, to some extent, radical experience. “Micro | Macro” is the name of the temporary pavilion designed by the Japanese artist, Ryoji Ikeda (1966, Gifu, Japan) for Serralves. It is the place for a sensory and mental experience, that the Portuguese architect, Nuno Brandão Costa, designed in an ephemeral architecture project, that solely uses eco-sustainable materials, including, in particular, cork. The choice of this material, supplied by Amorim Cork Insulation, is related to the need to create a feeling of isolation, almost like a parallel world, that envelops visitors, leading them to feel, and at the same time question, the relationship between the “ infinitesimally small and infinitely vast domain of Nature”.
Between the scale of Plank (10-35 mm), the human scale and the cosmological scale, beyond the observable universe (over 1,026m), we are led to rethink our position in the world, both looking inside and outside. As Ryoji Ikeda explains, “the underlying purpose of the work is to make spectators immerse themselves in an absolute extreme of scales, between bipolar limits, through extremely-detailed audiovisual sequences. It will be a highly visceral experience, which is also an intellectual experience.” Due to its tactile characteristics, and thermal and acoustic behaviour, cork creates the right environment for this experience to take place. The fact that it is a 100% natural, recyclable and renewable material made cork an even more relevant option.
©NVSTUDIO & ©FranciscoAscensão
