Sur Syd, 2020
Södertälje Hospital, Sweden.
Public Commission, The Cultural Administration at Region Stockholm.
Wallpainting (25 x 1.5 m), bronze relief (90x100cm) bronze sundial (43 x 27 x 25 cm) and online video.
The composition for the public commission Sur Syd consists of four parts:
the first is a play on the etymology of the words North and South in Spanish and in Swedish.
The origins can be traced to the first European (Eurocentric) maps where closer to the Mediterranean areas or the south the sun would be at it’s highest zenith (up) and to the north it would be at the lowest (down). So south means “up” and north means “down”. The words in Spanish and Swedish of up, down, south, north are intertwined in the wall rendering.
The second is a 3D scanned bronze casting of the tree that grows in the courtyard in Urugay where the artist grew up and played as a child. The "Ombu", as the tree type is called, is huge in size and serves as landmarks in Uruguay's flat landscape. An Ombu is an importan allegory to navigate and find the way thru the landscape. The artwork designed by Juan Pedro plays with the memory's relation to place and geography. Fragmentary prints of the actual tree from the childhood yard in Uruguay are joined together, re shaping the map and moved to the yard at Södertälje Hospital. The work forms a new map to navigate new places.
The third is a small sundial made of tape and branches found in the courtyard, casted in bronze, this sundial is a small but poetic indication that we are in motion but it neither indicates the time or geography.
The fourth part is a drone documentation of the residential complex (and yard) in Uruguay where the artist grew up and played as a child. Once inside the hospitals yard the viewer can access the film thru the mobile phone.
The video was done in collaboration with: Perspectivas Drones
