moradavaga’s giant squid’s tentacles embrace old beer factory in portugal

lumy, the giant red squid, engulfs the historic beer factory

Moradavaga has teamed up with Fiume Designs to bring a new version of its iconic interactive squid works to the capital of the Algarve, in the south of Portugal. Contributing to Mar Motto festival’s mission of addressing, celebrating, and promoting ocean conservation through art and culture, LUMY unravels as a giant red squid, its tentacles embracing an old beer factory on the margins of Ria Formosa.

Featuring some distinctive attributes in relation to its counterparts spread across the corners of the world, the installation literally gets a ‘sparkle in its eyes’ each time its acoustic tentacles and eyes capture sound from the surrounding environment. 

moradavaga collaborates with fiume designs

At a time when the ocean, the countless species that call it home, its ecosystems, and resources are gradually disappearing and facing the danger of extinction, it becomes imperative to alert society at large to the perils of this state of affairs to its own survival. With this setting as a background, Mar Motto organized by Sciaena comes into being. The festival presents, in the team’s own words, ‘with a practical character, around the creative areas of the arts, music, gastronomy, science, as a unifying and pedagogical hook, through a language shared by all, as a tool to positively awaken involvement, learning and discussion for a more aware and informed society.’

It is in this context that, LUMY, the most recent member of Moradavaga’s growing family of interactive giant squids — in constant expansion and dissemination throughout different geographies since 2016 — came to the surface. The creative collective has collaborated with Portuguese studio Fiume Designs who completed the electronic programming.

The singularity of the exhibition venue, an old beer factory inside the historical centre of Faro on the banks of the Natural Park — itself an endangered ecosystem, trying to find its balance under the pressures of mass tourism — and the vibrant, playful characteristics of the art piece made it an ideal scenic match for the festival’s message.

On the spirit of openness, exploration, and free exchange that both the festival and the artwork itself promote, another layer was created by a group of local artists connected to SRAF — Sociedade Recreativa Artística Farense. Inspired by the communicational and acoustic potential of the piece, they devised an ad hoc sonic performance which combined poetry, spoken word, improvised music, and live mixed sounds.

project info:

name: LUMY
designer: Moradavaga with Fiume Designs

location: Faro, Portugal

lighting design and technical support: João Dias-Oliveira/Fiume

designs collaboration: Irene Capacci

commissioner: Mar Motto

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.