Portugal

In October 1755, a Japanese fisherman noticed a shoal of catfish thrashing around in the water and knew that something was about to happen. Ten days later, Lisbon was struck by an earthquake, a tsunami, and a fire that levelled the city, accelerating a shift in the interpretation of natural phenomena, from providence towards science. As humanity becomes a geological force, trust in science increasingly gives way to blind faith in technology, leaving room for new obscurantist myths. Seismographs register not only tectonic movements, but also seem to signal the environmental and social convulsions written into the Earth’s crust.

RedSkyFalls is a system that synchronises the Portuguese Pavilion with distant geophysical events. At the core of the installation are chimeric artificial beings made of animal parts — living seismic sensors that respond to near-imperceptible tectonic shifts. Through the study of fur, fin, and heart, the work invites an empathic experience with the Earth’s internal rhythms. RedSkyFalls shifts the attention to infra-small signs and threshold vibrations, proposing a science of particulars and inviting the observation of beings – natural and artificial – that survive extreme conditions through interdependence and cooperation.