Metamorphosis
A journey through different landscapes where water has played a main role in the alteration of the environment.
Metamorphosis is a Land Art project composed by the Aqua Fossil sculptures by AMARIST, where works and landscape merge establishing a dialogue between them.
Full video Metamorphosis:
AMARIST recreates a fictitious future where water is in a fossil state, and through the Metamorphosis exhibition captures ephemeral moments where this future intertwines with the past in our present.
Metamorphosis is an artistic project developed over the last two years that establishes a dialogue between landscape and sculpture.
A project through which the artists introduce a series of works from their most recent work, 'Aqua Fossil', in different characteristic environments of the Aragon region where water has led a great transformation in the environment.
The result is an ephemeral Land Art performance captured solely by a series of high-impact images and video productions that aim to transport the viewer to a fictitious future, where water is in the process of disappearing, changing its physical state from liquid to fossil.
Fossilized water in the form of large petrified sculptures coexist in Metamorphosis with the space that they once shaped.
Development:
The project began from a research work carried out during the 2020 quarantine period. Subsequently, the artists undertook a journey through the Aragonese orography to locate and choose the landscapes to develop their vision, and finally, they focused on the production of the sculptures that bring the exhibition to life.
Metamorphosis is therefore the result of a large-scale immersive work carried out over the last two years in collaboration with the IAACC Pablo Serrano and the General Direction of Culture of the Government of Aragon.
For its realization, the duo of artists observed the change of the landscape in the different seasons of the year, selecting the most opportune moments to make the shootings with the sculptures. The production of the graphic content was also very conditioned by the limited window of light suitable for recording and by the difficulty of logistics when transporting and placing the sculptures.
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Another of the great challenges of the project was to create the great central sculpture of the exhibition:
Aqua Fossil Oda , over 3 meters long and 300 kg in weight.
The piece was created after choosing the main locations of the project, and designed conceiving its shape as a great petrified watery torrent, with enough character and dimension to generate the presence of a great entity, almost like and existing soul in the space.
The sculpting process took over a year, has a developed surface of 10 square meters and is the largest single piece sculpture ever created in backlit Alabaster.
Complete gallery Metamorphosis:
Investigation process:
Amarist Studio has been immersed since 2019 in an active process of research and artistic creation that revolves around the geological formation of Alabaster stone, its use throughout history, and the changes that the natural environment has experienced in the areas where the main deposits of this characteristic mineral are found.
The Ebro Rivera is the area where the main alabaster deposits in the world are found, and where the mineral has historically been extracted to be traditionally used in art and architecture throughout Europe. Currently, 90% of the world's Alabaster extraction is carried out in this territory.
This proximity has allowed Amarist to dive into the history of the material, as well as the evolution of the way of working with this material over the centuries.
The first deposits of Alabaster extraction occur in Rodén, First Iron Age (800-500 BC), and since then they have been present in all the settlements of the different civilizations that have passed through the Iberian Peninsula throughout history, like the Romans (200 BC) and later the Arabs (VIII AD).
All these civilizations have made use of the Alabaster stone and all of them have proposed a way of working this mineral in a very similar way; which is summarized in stone carvings, lathe techniques and later the introduction of cladding in architecture.
After this first phase of historical, physical and chemical research of the material, Amarist immersed themselves in a process of innovation to create a new language for Alabaster, as well as the invention of a new work technique to elaborate impossible shapes and dimensions to the date.
Aqua Fossil, the most recent work of the Amarist studio, is composed by a series of luminous Alabaster sculptures made with the innovative work technique created by the duo, result of the previously mentioned research process. The work tries to return Alabaster to its aqueous origin, treating it as a plastic and moldable material, showing each piece as a treasure emerged from an ancient sea.
Aqua Fossil thus transmits the essence of the chemical composition of the mineral, formed exclusively by two molecules: Calcium Sulfate and Water (CaSO4H2O), which could be poetically translated as fossilized water. Therefore, all the forms that the sculptures collect represent fluid lines that evoke the movement of water.
In this way, Amarist's Aqua Fossil sculptures constitute an oxymoron in itself, freezing the ephemeral moment of flowing water on a solid and immutable surface.
Continuity:
Metamorphosis is an ephemeral performance in the field of Land Art, which will be presented exclusively in digital format during the first year.
In December 2023, Metamorphosis will see its continuity as a physical museum exhibition at the IAACC Pablo Serrano in Zaragoza, Spain. The exhibition will present both the physical sculptures and the audiovisual production of the Land Art performance, as well as a special new installation.
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Within the framework of work and collaboration with the IAACC Pablo Serrano and the Government of Aragon, the central sculpture of the Metamorphosis project Aqua Fossil Oda, will be incorporated into the Contemporary Art Fund of the Government of Aragon.
Project collaborators:
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Director: Juan Carlos Somolinos.
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Music: Neonymus.
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Photography: Saul Lozano Ferrer.
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Production: Amarist Studio.
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Curated by IAACC Pablo Serrano, Government of Aragon.
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Ministry of Culture of the Government of Spain.
Locations:
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Cinca River, on its way through Escalona.
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Ascaso Canyon, Ascaso.
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Upper level of the Mediano reservoir, Aínsa.
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Lower level of the Mediano reservoir, Mediano.
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Elaboration:
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2020 - 2022.
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