Double cross
Reflected sculpurture
Location: Castell de Montjuic. Barcelona
Permanent piece from 2011
Size: 1.5x1.2x2.2m
Material: Steel, mirror.
Design: Carles Berga
Permanent piece from 2011
Size: 1.5x1.2x2.2m
Material: Steel, mirror.
Design: Carles Berga
This piece is permanently placed in Montjuic Castle in Barcelona. The reflection of the mirror shows the visitor the real reflection of the latin cross. The next video explains the geometry of that cross.
The physical description of the work would lead us to speak of a quantum structure assembled of twelve iron bars of different sizes. We could add other technical data and specify, in addition, angles and inclinations. The essential description of the work does not need any further information. However, in an effort to convey the exact image, we cannot avoid observing the result as a disordered structure of iron elements, only with a beauty that comes from the mystery of its purpose which remains hidden to us.
When we stand at the exact position, the chaotic structure makes sense. As we observe the figure, the mirror projects another familiar symbol, known but different, and somewhat antagonistic. The opposed and simultaneous vision of the two figures emerging from within the deep structure of the work transmits a tension to the viewer who cannot maintain a fixed view on either of the two images. The view of the spectator is torn between the material - attracted by its corporeality, and the evanescent - the reflection, which alludes to a set of competing concepts.
When we stand at the exact position, the chaotic structure makes sense. As we observe the figure, the mirror projects another familiar symbol, known but different, and somewhat antagonistic. The opposed and simultaneous vision of the two figures emerging from within the deep structure of the work transmits a tension to the viewer who cannot maintain a fixed view on either of the two images. The view of the spectator is torn between the material - attracted by its corporeality, and the evanescent - the reflection, which alludes to a set of competing concepts.
The fact is that they are two conceptual entities that suggest a single element upholds the internal tension of the work and makes it unsettling.
Is it really a reconciliation of opposites or two sides of the same reality, the same concept? Where are the differences? Wherein lies the antagonism? In the reality, corporeal, physical, tangible and polyhedral object or in the images that it shows us? Or perhaps within our stubborn negation of plurality?
On one side, the star of David, on the other, the Latin cross. Two opposing concepts. Opposites or two views of the same essential concept?
Is duality an explanation or an escape? Do we approach the overall understanding and beauty in itself or avert our eyes to other preconceptions which lie in the midst of what we feel comfortable?
Oftentimes the viewer, covered in the multifaceted reality of the artwork, forgoes the possibility to accept a plural reality, and seeks to associate a simplistic explanation of a single concept. But here there is no escape, the viewer is trapped, as the work itself refers to a duality that it is not easy to reconcile.
The exhibition of the work ´Double Cross´ on Montjuïc, the area of the city that once hosted the Jewish cemetery and that is the paradigm of a history of attraction and repulsion of the vital forces on which Barcelona has been built, adds an additional interest episodic reading, providing specific references to the internal tension of the work.
Marta Vidal