‘kneaded memory’ by dalila gonçalves, 2012

dalila gonçalves: kneaded memory beaufort04, blankenberge, belgium on now until september 30th, 2012

portuguese artist dalila gonçalves has developed an outdoor sculpture garden formed from boulders with their surfaces partially covered with decorative portugese ‘azulejos’ tiles. each patterned rock has been made so by the artist’s use of hand crafted tiles which typically adorn her home country’s vibrant façades while decorated in the style of brussels’ blankenberge region. the discarded tile pieces have been re-purposed, giving the historic building components a revival within the context of rocks of various sizes and formations each developed with a half-modern- interpretation-of-tile skin.

in order to develop the outdoor installation, the artist and her team mapped the exterior of the boulders– a grid was created to note where each decorative component would be permanently positioned. each piece of vibrant earthenware was then formed to fit the convex and concave formation of the rocks, hugging the surface of the natural objects. the positioning of the bright tiles seem to spill over the stones, creating a work which is incredibly refined in the artist’s employment of the ancient tilework techniques of ‘azulejos’ with the naturally-occuring and organic formation of each boulder, linking her own belgian heritage with the history of blankenberge’s ‘faience’ pottery.

‘kneaded memory’ is on show in blankenberge, belgium as part of the 2012 edition of beaufort04: fourth triennial of contemporary art by the sea.

kneaded memory by dalila goncalves at beaufort04 - 2 the boulders are arranged randomly in the church’s courtyard

kneaded memory by dalila goncalves at beaufort04 - 3 the tiles have been sculpted to move with each rock’s surface

kneaded memory by dalila goncalves at beaufort04 - 4

kneaded memory by dalila goncalves at beaufort04 - 5 the artist selected boulders of various sizes to display the reconfigured tiles

kneaded memory by dalila goncalves at beaufort04 - 6 visitors enjoy the ‘azulejos’ boulder brightened public gathering space

kneaded memory by dalila goncalves at beaufort04 - 7 each boulder was put into place by a sizeable crew with the necessity of a fork lift

kneaded memory by dalila goncalves at beaufort04 - 8 the tile components have been reshaped to hug the surface of their boulder

kneaded memory by dalila goncalves at beaufort04 - 9 every ‘azulejos’ has been hand-painted

kneaded memory by dalila goncalves at beaufort04 - 10 first, the artist and her team mapped the exterior of the massive rocks

kneaded memory by dalila goncalves at beaufort04 - 11 a grid was created to note where each tile component would be permanently positioned