A D U S T I N G, A G L I M M E R
Found glass and mirror shards, light and shadow, performance
Found glass and mirror shards, light and shadow, performance
C A S C A D I N G, H I G H
Layered photographic images on vegetal paper
Layered photographic images on vegetal paper
Cascading, high is a series of overlapping photographs taken in financial districts and developing dockland zones in Lisbon, London, Cork, and Dublin. The work examines the homogenization and financialization of space, and the architectures emerging within neoliberal frameworks.Installed in a disused factory once part of Portugal’s largest industrial conglomerate it reflects on cycles of economic growth and destruction, questioning the forces that shape our environment.
A Dusting, A Glimmer is a performance and sculptural installation composed of broken glass shards and reflections of light. The glass was carefully collected from abandoned factories across Barreiro’s former industrial conglomerate, once Portugal’s largest industrial complex, now a landscape infected by chemical contamination and dotted with concrete ruins.
The work engages with the act of looking back, dusting off fragile fragments, uncovering the layered histories embedded in the remnants of a ruined industry.
Through this excavation, it seeks clues to the present moment, tracing how descendants of the original shareholders of these industries now hold stakes in other sectors such as private hospitals and insurance. This cyclical movement reveals how power reconfigured itself haunting and reshaping the landscape. The broken glass which reflects onto the wall, evokes a broken system, one that fractures, repeats, and reconstitutes itself in altered forms. It speaks to the persistence of economic structures that collapse only to return under new guises, shifting shape but retaining influence.
Alongside the installation, a spoken word performance weaves a loose poetic narrative, contextualizing the piece. Together with the photographic installation the work reflects on the entanglement of place and the imprint of economic power on landscape.
PADA, Barreiro Portugal, 26 August, 2022
Images and video by Lena Lewis-King
Supported by a Cork City Council Artist Bursary