Pors & Rao
Heavy Hat 2011 Installation Plastic, metal, nylon, electro-mechanical components 180.0 × 91.0 × 45.0 Size (cm) 70.9 × 35.8 × 17.7 Size (in)
Pors & Rao work with objects and installations often incorporating physical animation and responsive behaviors. After toiling with computer simulations, the internet, and gameplay in the early 2000s, they both abandoned the screen to work with objects that engage the body. They crossed paths in Italy in 2002 and started working together in 2004.
Many of their works are conceived as a kind of 'being' with basic behavior patterns such as shyness, fatigue and dependency, highlighting absurd and involuntary aspects of human behavior and relationships. Some works imply a kind of pre-conceptual way of perceiving the world, where emotions and thoughts are projected onto the things around us — as if everything was conscious.
The 'Heavy Hat' drifts slowly about its central axis in an unpredictable, continuous motion unaffected by outer circumstances. Frequently, it appears to be falling to the floor, but lifts itself up again at the last moment. The logic of the form is derived from a pen drawing, so all dimensions have grown from the specific thickness of the line. The object is activated by human presence.
Exhibitions include the 2nd Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Whorled Worlds, India, 2014/15; METAMATIC Reloaded, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland, 2013; 21 Rooms, Nam June Paik Art Center, Seoul, South Korea, 2011; Pors & Rao, CAB – Centro De Arte Contemporaneo, Burgos, Spain, 2011; Indian Highway, The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art. Oslo, Norway, 2009, and the 4th Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan, 2009. Pors & Rao live and work in Bangalore.
Courtest of artbasel.com, galleryske.com