Over the Face
of New Waters

kinetic installation/ 2019
Over the Face of New Waters is an installation consisting of six self-watering hanging gardens that move, through a specialized mechanism, according to its plants' needs. When approached by human visitors, the garden places itself at their eye level.
Over the Face of New Waters video introduction, 1 min.
Our connection to the natural world

Plants are surprising organisms: able to feel and connect to the environment around them, even without brains or central nervous systems, they can perceive light, scent, touch, wind, and even gravity, actively responding to the world in which they grow. Drawing from innovative research on plant neurobiology, and from a broader understanding on the agency of natural beings, Over the Face of New Waters highlights the complexities and infinite possibilities through which humans can relate to the natural world.
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Over the Face of New Waters, 2019.
Photographed by Ricardo Bassetti.
It was the gesture of emerging from water that set the starting point for the work Over the Face of New Waters. Reflecting upon the importance of water as our common ancestor, as our original environment, Pavoni aimed to delve into such a fundamental aspect of our existence. If everything that has ever lived has come from the water, and if water is our most elemental source of life, how can we reconnect ourselves with it?
image
Over the Face of New Waters,
photography by Ricardo Bassetti and video by Gee Galvão.
In this work, Edson Pavoni expands his research on connection towards plants and the environment and proposes a reconnection with nature, as a listening and feeling entity.
The artwork is a permanent installation made of six modules. Each sculpture has two parts: one with the ability to move and which houses living plants; and one that is a sculptural container for water. In its breathing state, the upper part of the installation is able to move up and down experiencing new airs and altitudes. When the plants are thirsty and need water, the installation goes down to the water mirror, getting the plants' roots wet.

When a visitor approaches the installation, sensors identify their presence and perform a connection movement, moving the gardens either up or down until the sculpture is at the height of the visitor's eyes.
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image
Over the Face of New Waters,
images by Gee Galvão.
Credits

Edson Pavoni, artist

In collaboration with
Todos Arquitetura & Pax

Commissioner
Accenture

Production
Spaces&Creatures - Guilherme Bullejos, Diego Spinola, Gabriela Veiga, Junior de Gois, Lina Lopes & Maurício Veiga

Architecture
Todos Arquitetura - Fabio Mota, Camila Escobar, Rogério Gurgel, Sandra Telles & Vinícius Fernandes

Modeling in collaboration with Pax
Ana Carolina, Paula Sertório & Victor Paixão

Botanist
Gabriela Veiga

Carpentry
Zeromáquina - Ana Carolina, Paula Sertório & Victor Paixão

Prototyping space
Lilo.Zone

Photography and video
Triangle Studio, Gee Galvão & Ricardo Bassetti