2011 submission for the Granada Millennium Biennale contemporary art and heritage. The Unseen Exists and has Qualities was a week in duration and I proposed to create an installation using the same building techniques as the Alhambra Palace of Granada incorporating ceramics, a pit kiln and wood fire to offer an accelerated history on Moorish culture within the city. Here are the proposal drawings and some short video of the finished installation.
Presentación 2011 para la Bienal del Milenio de Granada arte contemporáneo y patrimonio. Lo Que No Se Ve Existe y Tiene Cualidades de una semana de duración para crear una instalación utilizando las mismas técnicas de construcción que el Palacio de la Alhambra de Granada que incorpora cerámica, un horno de leña y fuego de leña para ofrecer una historia acelerada sobre la cultura árabe dentro de la ciudad. Aquí están los dibujos de la propuesta y un breve video de la instalación terminada.
The location is below the Paseo de Los Tristes next to the Puente de las Chirimías on the banks of the Río D’orro below the Alhambra Palace. Phase on excavate a trance 1 x 3 x 1 (deep) meters…
the spoil from the excavation is placed into a mould and the soil is rammed to make it structurally strong enough to elevate the mould for each successive level to achieve a height of one meter.
as the earth is excavated we made thumb pots from the clay we unearthed. The structure is also designed to be a plinth for these pots once fired in the pit kiln.
the next stage is to prepare the pit kiln with sawdust and firewood along with the thumb pots.
he pit kiln fires the thumb pots over a 24 hour period.
the pit kiln is fired and broken open to retrieve the thumb pots…
the thumb pots are displayed on the rammed earth plinth…
the installation was created in December 2011. The intention was for spring snow melt from the Sierra Nevada to wash away the installation retuning the thumb pots the sediments of the river.
this short video shows the pit kiln firing, the smoke drifting for five kilometres up the Río D’Orro.
the lateral bars were retained and not removed from the plinth. A common feature of Moorish rammed earth construction are holes running horizontally across walls. Originally these holes would have been filled with earth but, not being rammed after time they wash away. The lateral bars are to support the mould as it is being raised from one layer to the next.