Willys de Castro: Lado a Lado

This exhibition at Instituto de Arte Contemporânea in São Paulo brings together for the first time a selection of works by the artist Willys de Castro from the series “Objetos Ativos” (Active Objects) (1959-1962), one of the most memorable moments of the Neo-concrete art.”Objetos Ativos” need a physical commitment of its observers. It’s physically impossible to seize the works from a fixed point of view because of the way they are created – with forms that continue from one side of the work to the opposite side. The opposite sides are always in a dialogue between each other, one side often providing a counterpoint to another through a set of positive/negative forms; a static perspective can reveal only half of the story. In order to see the work properly the viewer has to constantly go around, walk in front of the object, observe one side, from the memory reconstruct the other side that you saw before, and vice versa. Thus the memory, time and movement are evoked as integral elements of the artwork, it becomes part of the object.