Arcadia

Arcadia refers to an ideal place, a vision of pastoralism and harmony with Nature. It has remained a popular artistic subject since antiquity, both in visual arts and literature. We have been led to believe that this ideal place would be created by capitalist society. Post-modernity has proven otherwise.
My Arcadia is a physical model with sculptural elements that are erected against rules of architecture: roads are blocked, towers are raised in imbalance and there is no apparent order to this dystopian cityscape.
Beauty, stability, rationality and order are questioned in this piece.
Arcadia is a comment on the contemporary state of society, made even more evident with the rise of covid-19.
Profit and effectiveness is placed above creativity and the value of human lives. Economy works in an irrational way while we progressively enlarge the abyss between poor and wealthy, destroying our ecosystem in the process. What is this utopia and who does it serve ultimately?
António Distante - Arcadia, 2015
Roofmate, wood, MDF, grey cardboard, bristol cardboard and debris
100 x 85 x 200 cm
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