Balanço/en

Swing

Marcius Galan

Within the context of the visual arts it is quite curious to note that many of Marcius Galan's artworks challenge being properly seen. And they do so not because of their visual complexity, but because, when considered quickly, seem to be something which, on a closer look, they end up not being. However, unlike it might seem (again) this does not mean that these artworks trick us, on the contrary, seeing them is above all being reminded how much it is necessary to doubt what we see to, then, try to perceive beyond sight. Swing is not different. Made in 2008 — year in which, we must remember, the media ostensibly announced a supposed global crisis in financial capitalism — the piece was conceived to be shown in a large contemporary art fair geared towards selling art. There, the place for financial speculation around contemporary art par excellence, it certainly found an adequate environment to activate its irony.

We look at a calculator in a precarious situation, on the border of the base on which it stands, about to fall and collapse on the floor, so that we can only afterwards, in two moments, see. First the calculator is not a calculator, second, it is not about to fall.

It is only getting closer to the piece that we realize that the base and the thing which seems to be a calculator are one thing, which is irrevocably fixed in its place. The critical and unstable condition is stable and constructed, the supposed crisis reveals itself as a permanent and solid characteristic and not a brief moment.