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Sín Título
(Untitled)

Jorge Pardo
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Competition Guidelines
Site: The emblematic view of Guajataca

We are seeking an artistic piece that will restructure the lookout point along Highway PR-2, in what many consider to be the view that is representative of Puerto Rico (as confirmed by the imposing flag that was raised there). The intervention here should not be limited to a self-referential object, but rather incorporate the presence of the parking area, the kiosks and the flag, in a full proposal covering space, form and function.
About the Area
Due to our geographical location, the seacoast is a favorite place for constructing identity symbols in the discourse of popular culture and tourism advertising campaigns. Beyond the stereotypes to which it is usually reduced, we perceive in the seacoast the possibility of alternating between the personal scale and vast panoramas, between the known and the unknown, between objective and abstract landscape. There is a captive audience that worships this setting as the ideal space for leisure and meditation.
Aphorism
On my first visit to the Guajataca viewing platform, I was immediately delighted and intrigued by the quotidian events of every day life there; the fritter stand, the alternative fuel food cart, the che de vera coconut purses, the irregular and haphazard parking, the magnificent ocean and of course, the gigantic Puerto Rican flag.

My proposal, Untitled, is not designed to organize or obscure the disparate conditions mentioned above. I am more interested in providing a new framework or vantage point that I believe will amplify and intensify the conditions that already exist there and make the place interesting.

Similarly, Untitled, through its aesthetic formalities, mirrors and reflects the diverse and disparate conditions which make public spaces interesting to inhabit. The structures indifference towards its aesthetic incomensurabilities (it’s ability to be both birdlike and grounded, transparent and solid, heavy and light, a frame and an object) exemplifies its willingness to directly engage the visitor on his or her own terms.

Why an amphitheater? It’s important to make the point that there are many ways to process nature, whether meditating or eating a fritter while watching the sun go down over the ocean. In other words, looking at nature not as a picture, but as a vantage point that frames and reframes the subtle shifts necessary for experience to be individuated.

Regarding the structure’s extreme geometry, in the past the aesthetic of this structure would have been considered idealistic – a cultural object to look to the future with. But that image of the future only belonged to a few. In this case, we are not deluding ourselves in believing the future is transformative by default. The future is made by the quotidian, the known, the ritual, and more importantly by the monitoring of these small shifts in the everyday.