Superficie neutra
Neutral surface, 2023
Beeswax, paraffin, fiberglass, cellular polycarbonate and corrugated steel
Superficie neutra [Neutral Surface] is a formal essay on the encounter between the body, architecture and the substances that flow between them. Juxtaposing organic materials and industrial structures, Pimiento conducts a sculptural investigation into how the body becomes imbricated with the urban environment, understanding this relationship as a continuous system of materials in transit.
She achieves this by working with different combinations of beeswax and paraffin, thus joining an organic material with a petroleum derivative. Subject to liquefaction and solidification, this hybrid material has been adapted to different types of industrial formwork, such as tanks to transport and distribute liquids and gravel, or prefabricated construction panels for building generic spaces.
The result is a system of modular objects whose size and morphology evoke both construction elements and objects of the domestic space (bed, bathtub or washbasin), which interact with the body and are measured from their own scale.
The title Superficie neutra is borrowed from the "neutral surface" concept developed by the radical architecture group Archizoom (1966-1974), which advocated replacing the city and architecture itself with a continuous, uniform and potentially infinite interior space. In keeping with this construction scheme, the internal arrangement of the pieces in this project and their distribution in space obey a self-similar pattern, generating a layout that invites spectators to walk through it, turning the visitor's body into another module within the system.
Superficie neutra continues the line of research begun by the artist in her Arquitecturas terminales [Terminal Architectures] (2019-2021) project, focused on the study of infrastructures as points of contact between fluids of the body and those of the city. In this case, the aim is to expand the already-investigated processes and turn them into sculptures on a human scale.
Photographies 1 to 8: La Casa Encendida / Galerna