desVirtual

Project brief & details

Conceito (English follows)

Beleza corrosiva questiona os impactos ambientais das tecnologias digitais, a partir de  imagens distópicas de um futuro provável, em que os rios serão tomados por equipamentos disfuncionais de toda sorte. Na projeção, que retrata um rio Amazonas imaginário, paisagens marcadas pelo contraste entre o orgânico e o tecnológico, evocam um estado de “beleza corrosiva”, alusão direta ao verso/conceito surrealista de “beleza convulsiva” de André Breton, porém pelo avesso. 

Beleza corrosiva parte da famosa fotomontagem de André Breton, publicada na revista Minotaure 10 (1937, P. 21), de uma locomotiva devorada pela natureza. A imagem, que ilustrava um texto de Benjamin Péret, sugestivamente intitulado “La Nature Dévore le Progrès et le Dépasse”, coloca em pauta a beleza “explosivo-fixa” que Breton evoca no seu poema “Nadja”, confrontando a tensão entre movimento e repouso e sugerindo a pulsão de vida da natureza em relação à decrepitude da ruína metálica. 

Essa dinâmica, contudo, não se confirma nas imagens de Beleza corrosiva, onde raízes se entrelaçam em cabos e uma flor brota em placas-mãe, mas não consegue desabrochar. Criado integralmente com inteligência artificial (Sora), o vídeo captura a devastação e as tentativas de resiliência de um ecossistema em fluxo, que tenta desafiar a lógica da devastação, procurando sobreviver, sem conseguir. 

Concept

Corrosive Beauty questions the environmental impacts of digital technologies through dystopian images of a likely future in which rivers are overtaken by dysfunctional equipment of all kinds. In the projection, which depicts an imaginary Amazon River, landscapes marked by the contrast between the organic and the technological evoke a state of corrosive beauty — a direct allusion to André Breton’s surrealist concept/verse of convulsive beauty, but in reverse.

Corrosive Beauty departs from the famous photomontage by André Breton, published in Minotaure magazine no. 10 (1937, P. 21), showing a locomotive being devoured by nature. The image illustrated a text by Benjamin Péret, suggestively titled “La Nature Dévore le Progrès et le Dépasse” (Nature Devours Progress and Surpasses It), and brings to the forefront the explosive-fixed beauty Breton evokes in his poem Nadja, confronting the tension between movement and stillness and suggesting nature’s life drive in contrast to the decrepitude of metallic ruin.

This dynamic, however, is not confirmed in the images of Corrosive Beauty, where roots intertwine with cables and a flower sprouts from motherboards — but fails to bloom. Created entirely with artificial intelligence (Sora), the video captures the devastation and attempts at resilience of an ecosystem in flux, striving to defy the logic of destruction, trying to survive — but failing.

Technical information

The installation features:
🔸 Large-scale projection of AI-generated imagery
🔸 An e-waste collection station within the exhibition space
🔸 A partnership with cooperativeS that collect and recycle the electronic waste

The e-waste donated by visitors is physically incorporated into the installation, forming a living — or dying — body that pulses between obsolescence and transformation. At the end of the exhibition, all collected material is sent for recycling, completing a symbolic cycle of exposure and decomposition.