Fontana di Nada
Performative Installation
5-14th November 2014 under "Here>ElseWhere" MADEP Finalists Exhibition at FBAUP
Interior atrium of Pavilhão Sul at FBAUP
From the series "Disruptive Practices in the Daily Routine: Analysis of a Creative Process in the Dancing Place of the City" (2012-2014), under the M.A in Art and Design for the Public Space at Fine Arts Faculty of Porto (FBAUP)
The goal of this project was to mock the tradition of throwing coins to any fountain, including those in malls.
When you approach the installed object, it is intended that the passerby can identify and question the irony of a tradition that is sometimes applied anecdotally. This behavior is due to the myth that if someone tossing a coin - an example is the Fontana di Trevi, Italy - you will be granted a wish. In the case of Trevi, it is important to mention that the yield is so huge that it reaches thousands each year, and the daily found money is collected and reverted to the homeless, (mediated by the Red Cross). The money tossed was also a source of income for about 30 years of Roberto Cercelletta - known as D'Artagnan - an individual who thought he was worthy of receiving the money from the fountain. In this sense, questions whether that is so then the appeal - under through metaphors and symbolic subversion - a fact known to the public, may raise issues related to the culture of a society. In this sense, this project calls to question the issues related to the culture of a society, through metaphors and symbolic subversion of reality through an performative - rubbered, portable, golden, and apparently very noble - monument installation.
When you approach the installed object, it is intended that the passerby can identify and question the irony of a tradition that is sometimes applied anecdotally. This behavior is due to the myth that if someone tossing a coin - an example is the Fontana di Trevi, Italy - you will be granted a wish. In the case of Trevi, it is important to mention that the yield is so huge that it reaches thousands each year, and the daily found money is collected and reverted to the homeless, (mediated by the Red Cross). The money tossed was also a source of income for about 30 years of Roberto Cercelletta - known as D'Artagnan - an individual who thought he was worthy of receiving the money from the fountain. In this sense, questions whether that is so then the appeal - under through metaphors and symbolic subversion - a fact known to the public, may raise issues related to the culture of a society. In this sense, this project calls to question the issues related to the culture of a society, through metaphors and symbolic subversion of reality through an performative - rubbered, portable, golden, and apparently very noble - monument installation.
Fountain - 61 x 22 cm rubber child pool filled with water; sprayed in gold colour
Signboard - Stainless steel laser-engraved plate, glued to a block of marble
Phrase engraved "If you throw coins to the fountain, absolutely nothing will happen to you"
Although it was firstly intended to move the Fontana di Nada across various - public and exterior- squares along the city, in this case, the fountain was disposed in an interior atrium, located in Pavilhão Sul of FBAUP.
Moments after the opening of the exhibition (5th November 2014), several coins had been deposited inside. Too quickly, the faculty's students had appropriated themselves to the fountain, establishing contests of "aim", in which they tried to hit with coins inside the monument from the upper floors (three) of the building.
As you can also see, several drawing classes are given in the atrium, which means that the object will be forever recorded in the students works and memories.
Note written by a student saying "It happened, I ran out of a coin"
In the end of the exhibition, Fontana di Nada not only proved to be an "almost" self-sustaining financially installation (due to confirmation that, even knowing that nothing would happen to them the space users continually insisted on throwing coins), and also proved to be a source of sharing and appropriation.
