Padrões

The word padrões in Portuguese carries multiple meanings: it can refer to a benchmark, standard (of comparison, quality, beauty, or language), norm, visual pattern, or even a monument or headstone. In the history of Portuguese colonization, padrões held deep symbolic and geopolitical significance. They were stone pillars placed by navigators such as Diogo Cão — who erected them between 1482 and 1486 along the African coast — to claim territories on behalf of the Portuguese crown.

Roberto Uribe revisits the padrão as a device of territorial organization and applies it to the elements that spontaneously emerge in the public spaces of Salvador de Bahia. These objects and practices reshape territorialities and hierarchies in the use of urban space. In doing so, Uribe-Castro challenges the boundaries — visible or invisible — that define how and by whom urban areas are used.

The works presented in this exhibition result from research developed before and during his Vila Sul residency, forming a new body of work by the Colombian-Dutch artist.