Cisterna de Elvas
18’33’’ (loop)
4 channel sound piece
Fiberglass, cotton, stainless steel, water, led lights

Presenting death as a place for contemplation, Cordovil’s work installed at the Cistern of Elvas (built in 1650), takes us into a poetic narrative of an underworld subtly waiting for those who watch it, directly referencing the Greek myth of Charon, a boatman responsible to transport the recently departed souls to the final judgement before their eternal rest. The empty canoes drifting on the water indicate exactly this persistence, an object later popularized in Europe during the XV century, in texts know as “Ars Moriendi” (the “art of dying” in Latin), to recommend the procedures of a “good death” within Christianity, sealing up ethic and religious values to grant a conscient redemption. However, the absence of figures is what remains within this scenery, introducing death within a symbolic dichotomy of non-existence and presence, structuring an idea beyond its appearance. Interested in the passage of time and what it carries, Cordovil implies that although it might not be our time, death remains as the inevitable and last stronghold of our existence.

Commissioned by Coleção António Cachola
Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Elvas | Coleção A. Cachola
FARRA – Festa da Arte em Rede na Região do Alentejo
Curated by Ana Cristina Cachola