Jonathan Uliel Saldanha

The process of constructing the exhibition Behemoth Republic, included in the Sonic Geomtry cycle, resulted from a series of interactions, first with Nuno Faria, later with Francisco Queimadela and Mariana Caló, and finally with real or imagined RTP archives.

The archives were combed for unexpected correlations between the human and the landscape, with a special focus on the encounters with other lifeforms: wales, autopoietic organisms, bioluminescent fungi and other beings that, objectively or mythologically, traverse the volcanic landscape of the island. These monsters are invoked in their multiple states; carcasses, rumors, inventions or toxicity records are used to outline the construction of a system. An ecology that assumes itself as false and has a mystery or a mutation at its core. The catacomb shaped tunnels that connect the Center’s building to the aquatic and chthonic depths are the right place for this installation. Favored by fungi, bacteria, vibrations and opacities, this space is used as a depressurizing chamber between scales and scintillations in a juxtaposition of light, synthetic materials, zombie organisms, sleeping fungi and sounds that reveal the movements of hyperactive entities. A republic of monsters, intangible in its becoming, tactile in its manifestation.

Lymphatic network of fungi, mineral inorganic derivatives, polymorphic aquatic organisms in a carcass of toxic hides whose surface is activated by the scintillation of synthetic colors and by the simulation of subterranean acoustics. Katabasis.