Spanish photographer Fernando Alda explores the construction of the Pacific Center building in Panama, designed by local firm Ventura Arquitectos, in his most recent photo essay. Titled "An Aesthetics of Disappearance," Alda's work was exhibited in the Panamanian firm's pavilion during the inaugural Expo Modii 2018 in Panama City.
Scaffolding, energy dissipators, shoring, electrical installations, and safety netting define the temporary spaces that make up this photo essay. These compositions center on spaces rendered invisible while awaiting the real spaces. "In Pacific Center," writes architect Silvia Escamilla, "he freezes this temporal lapse and the ephemeral elements that inhabit it, those that go unnoticed by us, granting them a new aesthetic value."
"This time, through his singular way of seeing and sharing Paul Virilio’s concept of speed as an element that distorts the spatial-temporal coordinates where absence appears, Alda offers us the distortions it can produce, ultimately leading to the total disappearance of the subject. Disappearance as the fading of the material world," she adds.
"In this photographic series, it becomes evident that for Fernando Alda, photography is not a mere instrument of communication but a work of art, and once again, he plays with it, diverting the original content to adopt another," Escamilla concludes.
Read Silvia Escamilla's reflection at this link.
This article was written by Nicolás Valencia. The translation is powered by AI.
