The human, the plummet and the column

The human, the plumb line and the column. Wood and steel. 9.00 x 1.75 x 0.80 mts. 2019. Corporate Building of the Chilean Chamber of Construction.

... “building is in itself already dwelling.”
Martin Heidegger; To build, to inhabit, to think.
The natural condition of the human being is to interpret the environment and establish relationships that allow him to inhabit space. It is inherent to the human being to build. We do not understand nor can we inhabit the world if we do not do it from the construction, which in turn is in itself the human construct. We are never more human than when we build.
In that sense this project takes two essential elements in the construction; on the one hand there is the representation of the column as the elemental constructive axis -the column is in itself the representation of the human being-, and the other element that composes this project is the plumb line, object/tool that allows to establish in the construction the absolute verticality. In this work these elements are fundamental, establishing small displacements of them towards the field of art and its symbolic language, but without losing the link with them.
The presence of the column is established through the almost virtual construction by means of the steel canvases tensioned by the natural weight of the plumb line, and it is from this element that approximately 90 sculptural pieces have been developed that float in our memory by making reference to the plumb line used in construction, as a small homage to the constructive exercise and to those who carry it out. 

The lightness of the volume and the suspension of the weight are visual elements that establish a tension, but at the same time generate a state of stillness in the face of the constant movement of people entering and leaving the building.
Regarding the color, the choice of red allows to build a visual counterpoint in relation to the monochrome that exists in the hall of the building, and in turn also allows to better visualize the volume and its vertical sense in space.

Text by: Cristián Salineros F.