A viatura sem condutor / La voiture sans conducteur / The Driverless Vehicle

Galeria Quadrado Azul Lisboa is reopening with a new exhibition by artist Renato Ferrão.

This installation revisits and expands upon the work '8 cascatas e um desabamento' (8 waterfalls and a collapse), presented in 2015 at the Sismógrafo space in the city of Porto.

The current project articulates the elements of that original structure with newly produced units, now experimented with through an integration with sensing and sound amplification systems.

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The Driverless Vehicle: The autonomy of the image and the machine in motion

In this exhibition, Renato Ferrão proposes a profound reflection on the autonomy of images and the capacity of machines to operate independently of the human gaze. Through sculptural and optical devices, Ferrão constructs a universe where light, movement, and narrative intertwine to create visual experiences that challenge traditional perception.
The title of the exhibition, A viatura sem condutor / La voiture sans conducteur / The Driverless Vehicle, functions as a metaphor for these seeing machines that advance without a visible operator, suggesting an autonomous journey that questions the relationship between subject, object, and machine. The works, installed in a space fragmented by a "skeleton" of imagined walls, create projection zones that invite the visitor into an unstable circulation, where the path is neither linear nor predictable.

Ferrão uses images of waterfalls, artificial landscapes, and internal mechanisms to explore themes such as the fall, flow, and interruption. Each piece functions as an autonomous microcosm, where visual and mechanical forces combine to generate movement and light that seem to have a life of their own.

The exhibition architecture reinforces this idea of drift and autonomy, proposing an open and incomplete space that challenges the traditional notion of an exhibition room. The visitor is invited to experience the work not as a simple observer, but as an integral part of a system in constant transformation.

A viatura sem condutor / La voiture sans conducteur / The Driverless Vehicle is not just a showcase of sculptures and devices; it is an invitation to rethink the autonomy of the image and the role of machines in constructing the contemporary visual experience.