Windows by José Capela

The installation,Windows, by scenographer and architect José Capela, represented Portugal in 2019 at the Prague Quadrennial (PQ19).

The installation Windows consists of a set of mirrored containers that carry out a dual function as devices: (1) they are a piece of landscape that reflects the landscape around it and (2) the shape of each container is deduced from the mechanisms of vision and / or representation used in the miniature scenarios assembled inside them.

The concept of "immersive" - so present in contemporary theatre - may complement or contradict the assumption that theatre is seen from the outside; it may complement or contradict the tradition initiated with the invention of perspective, the invention of the proscenium arch and the placement of the audience in front of this large window through which they watch a depiction. But, in these very times of immersive theatre, most of us spends the day looking at computer monitors and other screens, in a situation curiously similar to that of the audience of this supposedly old theatre: in front of a window.

Watching the world through windows, remaining outside of the reality perceived, is therefore
- similar to what happens to us in face of the scenic devices that resulted from the invention of perspective;
- something completely new in view of the depiction modalities that are typical of those devices and, specifically, the nature of their images.
(José Capela)

Curatorship:
Ministério da Cultura/Direção-Geral das Artes

Organization:
Direção-Geral das Artes/Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga

Image credit:
©José Carlos Duarte


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