Included in the exhibition Desnorte organized by CAM in 2008, Polar presents itself as an enigmatic and simultaneously seductive work, with its orderly and compact configuration of 2400 small compasses, which, instead of allowing for the effective orientation of a person, confront him with the multiplicity and scattering of spatial references. In effect, whilst suspended on the same steady vertical plane, compasses do not uniformly show the same orientation (the magnetic north or north magnetic pole). The multiplication of shown directions, artificially generated by the introduction of a magnetic anomaly which distorts the information of each compass, inspire a feeling of “disorientation” or perplexity, provoked by the uncertainty and confusion being conveyed by a tool whose projections enable men to move around in space.

 

The compass is known for the trustworthiness of the information it provides as geographical orientation. By introducing a deviation in the functioning of that device, the artist questions the relationship of trust (perhaps a «blind» one) of man in relation to the technical gadgetry created by him in order to move around space or in situations where his senses do not suffice (in maritime or aerial navigation, for instance), in the same way if defies the scientific apparatus of certainty and measurability.

 

Pondering on the limits of technical and scientific knowledge, on the variation and exchange between wisdoms of differentiated levels (scientific versus affective or emotional/objective versus metaphorical), the work of Susana Anágua, an artist graduated from Ar.Co and from the Superior School of Technology, Art Management and Design (Caldas da Rainha, Portugal), reveals a constant and coherent investing in a technological dimension, using photography, video or multimedia installation as supports that bring about the questioning of human landscapes transfigured and mediated by industry and technology, often introducing a dimension of dysfunction or diversion in her images.

 

AFC

November 2011