Artwork analysis: El Paisaje es un Texto sin Fin

(The landscape is an endless text)

(2013 - 16), Andrea di Castro

by: Vanesa Jazmín Mondragón Velázquez

El Paisaje es un Texto sin Fin (2013-16), Andrea di Castro


The work consists of a set of 10 videos and 12 boxes. The development of the project was carried out from 2013 to 2016; it was created from the compilation of small phrases and texts written or recorded in the artist’s travel log.

The videos show landscapes, roads, records of changes in temperature and some objects such as rocks and plants located in the state of Coahuila, Chihuahua, Sonora and the Southwest of the United States of America; the scenarios are mainly desertic since they are in the northern zone of Mexico. Each video lasts from 20 seconds to 36 minutes maximum. They show the small changes that occur in each environment such as light, movement of plants, clouds, wind and information about temperature and humidity. He is interested in showing details of the landscape that can not be seen with the naked eye.

The boxes contain a small screen that allows us to read the texts taken from Andrea's blog. Each word or phrase in the original text is disarrayed by a computer to form a new message, the system tries all possible ways to combine them. Each box has a different function, some are the description of what the artist felt when viewing the landscape, others predict the future and some only show a sensor that reports on the temperature and humidity of the environment.

The texts are the description of the landscape seen from an emotional perspective, thus forming a poetic work. They were written in the moment to capture the sensations that each place produces.

"Earth and sky

open to the look

in hell landscape

apparent stillness

I am part of the landscape

light that caresses "

Box object number 6.

The piece in its totality presents 10 screens with the videos of the landscape and in the part below they put the object box with its respective video, it is presented in a wooden box with the cables visible intentionally. The spectator has to pay attention to the two pieces to understand the work, one does not exist without the other.

For the descriptions of the videos he takes as a reference the psychological realism, particularly the works of Stendhal. In the field of literature, the descriptions seem to be an internal monologue that helps to understand the feelings and thoughts in real time that produce being in a specific place. The author is freed from his emotional and personal impulses, and the narration will provide us with new experiences that are diverse, daily and dramatic.

Stendhal, considered representative of psychological realism, in his works describes the moral and intellectual climate of France and highlighted the beauty of the place. In his works he was characterized by his romantic sensibility and acute critical sense; I was able to use the description of sensations and moods to build an image of the landscape with which we are most familiar.




Artwork analysis

It offers us a reinterpretation of the landscape, metaphorically, combining new technologies. The random texts presented in the boxes allude to the environment, it seems to be the same at all times, but it is always in constant change, not very noticeable, the scenario that you saw a few seconds before is not the same as it is now. The texts are unique and unrepeatable thanks to their infinite combinations, they contain the same words as the original text, but when moving it from position, it is no longer the same. In the case of landscape, clouds are constantly changing in the wind and many more natural phenomena alter the flora and fauna of the place and therefore the whole environment.

It relates to psychological realism since it is able to add feelings and sensations without damaging reality, creating in this way a much more alive image for us. Landscaping has always been a subject of inspiration within the world of art, in painting and photography are very common, therefore, to give a new approach to the landscape from the new electronic instruments allows us to contemplate it under another concept much closer to our daily life .

With this work we see the landscape as a series of changing code, looking for new ways of accommodating ourselves to be something new with the same elements and that sensations are what connect us with our reality.

He also argues with this work the power to build an artistic discourse using different media to achieve, such as: audiovisual technologies, computing and telecommunications.

Proyecto "El Paisaje es un Texto sin Fin". Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte. FONCA 2013.

*All visual resources belong to the artist.