Some Words
Curvum
The cavetto (from Latin scotia, itself derived from Ancient Greek σκοτία, "darkness" or "shadow") is a concave molding composed of two curves of different radii. The larger of the two is the lower curve.
Its name derives from its presence in the Greek base of Ionic columns, where it produced an effect that emphasized shadows and highlights, conveying expressiveness and movement.
The cavetto molding appears defined in Table 29 of Jacopo Vignola's *Regola delli cinque ordini d’architettura* (1562).
Architects such as Guastavino, Gaudí, and later Antonio Palacios dedicated considerable time to systematizing these elements for modular use. Inspired by them, I reinterpret this classical element to systematize the joint and the lost curve.
Modernity straightened the world and extolled the virtue of the bare edge. The curve was lost, and the life of materials was shortened by design.
Classical elements were eliminated in favor of storage, transportation, and economy.
An orthogonal world was created—a system of assembling standardized production elements. Misidentified (erroneously) as dispensable ornaments, their removal simplified construction but resulted in deficiencies in quality and durability.
This feeds the current industry that promotes consumption. Nothing is meant to last.
Resources are limited. Repair should be less costly than replacement. The knowledge accumulated by artisans over generations is part of a country’s living heritage.
Today, this knowledge is obsolete, forgotten, and lost within an industry that rewards speed, quantity, and renders training and craftsmanship unnecessary. It is an industry that punishes skill acquired through experience. Technology is part of evolution. We should use it as long as it does not distort our perception of intelligence.
We live anesthetized by screens, forgetting centuries of knowledge and concentration, believing ourselves to be more intelligent than we truly are.
This exhibition explores different concepts, scenarios, techniques, materials, and scales, where the constructive solution of the curve is the protagonist of the work.
Bárbara Pérez Marina