HARD CANDY AS PART OF  DOMAIN OF ACTION

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Domain of action is a project that look upon impact of fitness subculture and it’s upon mainstream. This project comes from personal experience and observation of Ana Fonseca as gym user she was particularly interested on the way people arranged their own “workout station”. Ana has also looked upon Instagram as a window to cultural references as well as the “products” of contemporary gym culture.

 Much has been written about body culture and fitness. The research of Roberta Sassatelli has been fundamental to validate my thoughts on the subject. Other important part of my research is the massive quantity of personal photographs and other visual materials associated with fitness subculture and its urban tribes. How gyms are organized and the role of fitness in contemporary life.

 Hard Candy is a parody on the conflictual relationship between food and fitness. The unity of measure is always calories that you gain or lose. We live in a society where our desires are satisfied as quickly as possible and the body doesn’t conform to that so easily and when pleasure is also a factor … food will give you a quick reward in contrast with real gains through exercise will only “show” after some time …. Before is pain and a short term “feel good”. Can you have a cake and eat it too?

The cute and tasty aesthetic contrasts with the materials used: stainless steel, plastic, cement, pigments, varnish, cornstarch, no added sugar, gluten free. I have chosen cement for this work because is raw construction material that I disguise as light and refined.

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HARD CANDY AND PERFORMATIVE SCULPTURES

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The aim is to create performative sculptures – Dumbbells, Kettlebells, Barbells and other accessories that can be manipulated and activated through performances, video, as well as by the viewers. The viewers may touch and pick up the works but with assistance. The pieces are very adaptable to site specific locations or “white cubes”. Another advantage is that all the sculptures have a very portable size.

The performances will be group classes with a minimum of three participants and a fitness instructor at sound of a soundtrack, which the lyrics are about exercise or candy. The duration may vary but never shorter than 15 minutes as I want to see people sweating. The trend for gym group classes is to be more than just entertaining but rather an immersive experience. On my performances, I want to have both immersive and voyeuristic experiences in simultaneous. The participants that are “active viewers” will have the immersive experience and the majority of people whom will not participate will see the strengths and fragilities of those undergoing the experience and comparing their own memories and their positioning regarding the gym culture.