Nuno Rodrigues de Sousa

From the Foundations to the Sky

This Will Kill That, 2014
Video HD 1080p, colour, stereo, pal, 16:9, 18′ 50” loop

This video is a narrative that combines a succession of paintings, designs and magazine covers by the Hungarian modernist artist Lajos Kassák and a reading of an excerpt from the novel by Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris : a chapter titled “this will kill that”.
Kassák was a painter, a graphic designer, a writer, and a poet, as well as a constructivist revolutionary. He was the founder of several avant-garde magazines that reflected on the utopian nature of architecture, revolution, society, urbanism, art and literature.
This text focuses on the relationship between architecture and the printing press developed by Johannes Gutenberg. Gutenberg pioneered a revolution that completely changed people’s access to culture. Victor Hugo in this text describes how the printed book became stronger and more durable than any building built by man. Thus the printed book would “kill” architecture as the main vehicle for perpetuating culture.
The common thread of these two worlds is an overlap of different views on architecture as a metaphor for the construction of a society. The distinct time frames of these two utopian visions point to contrasts, similarities and contradictions within the history of European culture.

Kassák Múzeum/Petőfi Irodalmi Múzeum (Kassák Museum/Petőfi Literary Museum), 2014
Fine art print
72 x 54,5 cm
Installation view: Quadrum Gallery, Lisbon
Photo: Edgar Pires
Building/Skin, 2014
Plastic paint with sand on canvas
210 x 98cm

Installation view: Quadrum Gallery, Lisbon
Photo: Edgar Pires 
Building on a Flat Surface #1, 2013
Acrylic on paper
51 x 35,5cm
Building on a Flat Surface #2, 2013
Acrylic on paper
51 x 35,5cm
Building on a Flat Surface #3, 2013
Acrylic on paper
51 x 35,5cm
Building on a Flat Surface #4, 2013
Acrylic on paper
51 x 35,5cm
Building on a Flat Surface #5, 2013
Acrylic on paper
51 x 35,5cm
Building on Municipio Street, nº15/17, 2014
Fine art print
72 x 54,5 cm
Installation view: Quadrum Gallery, Lisbon
Photo: Edgar Pires
Composition (Ascending), 2014
Acrylic gesso on canvas
210 x 98cm

Installation view: Quadrum Gallery, Lisbon
Photo: Edgar Pires
Plaça de la Palmera de Sant Martí (Palmera de Sant Martí Square), 2014
Fine art print
72 x 54,5 cm
Composition (Red Shapes) #1, 2014
Indian Ink on paper
51 x 35,5cm
Composition (Red Shapes) #2, 2014
Indian Ink on paper
51 x 35,5cm
Composition (Red Shapes) #3, 2014
Indian Ink on paper
51 x 35,5cm
Composition (Red Shapes) #4, 2014
Indian Ink on paper
51 x 35,5cm
Composition (Red Shapes) #5, 2014
Indian Ink on paper
51 x 35,5cm
Composition (Red Shapes) #6, 2014
Indian Ink on paper
51 x 35,5cm
Installation view: Quadrum Gallery, Lisbon
Photo: Edgar Pires
Installation view: Quadrum Gallery, Lisbon
Photo: Edgar Pires
Installation view: Quadrum Gallery, Lisbon
Photo: Edgar Pires