Ennyman's Territory: Margarida Sardinha's Da Vinci Simulacrum: Catch It If You Can

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Margarida Sardinha's Da Vinci Simulacrum: Catch It If You Can

#10 Heart Sound

We're all familiar with the story of Christopher Columbus who in 1492 set out to find a passage to India by traveling westward across the sea. While listening to a lecture today regarding the significance of this man's conviction that the earth was round and the challenges he faced, the lecturer made a reference to American author Washington Irving. Most Americans know him best for stories such as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. He was also one of the first magazine editors to publish Francis Scott Key's "The Star Spangled Banner."

In 1815 a financial disruption prompted him to cross the Atlantic to salvage his family's trading company. After two years he was forced to declare bankruptcy. Instead of returning to the States, he remained in Europe and pursued a writing career, inspired in part by Sir Walter Scott, author of the novel Rob Roy, whom he'd spent some time with in 1817.

Irving left England to explore the Continent. At one point, while in Paris, he received a letter from a friend encouraging him to come to Spain. He was told that a number of manuscripts had been recently been made public. Like any real writer that I've ever known, he was always on the lookout for good stories. Being given full access to a remarkable collection of books and documents pertaining to Spanish history, Irving began several books at once, the first being A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus.

As I listened to the lecture on Christopher Columbus, Irving's time in Spain was commented on, specifically his time spent staying at The Alhambra in Granada. Naturally, as soon as I heard mention of The Alhambra, a unique palace/fortress in the Andalusia region, I immediately thought of Margarida Sardinha's richly rewarding 2015 art exhibition titled Symmetry's Portal which was inspired by this self-same place.

This memory/connection was fresh on my mind due to a recent press release regarding her latest installation titled Da Vinci Simulacrum, which will be opening this coming Saturday, 23 April, at the Museu Ibérico de Arqueologia e Arte de Abrantes (MIAA). The show is curated by Hugo Dinis and supported by Garantir Cultura and Abrantes Municipality, Portugal, in partnership with Figueiredo Ribeiro Art Collection. It will be on display through 25 September.

The Lisbon-born Sardinha has been receiving much-deserved recognition for her labors in the arts these past two decades. I first became aware of her work circa 2010 and have been perpetually impressed ever since. What impressed me (or attracted me to her ideas) was the manner in which she synthesized and distilled concepts from literature, philosophy, religion, science, mathematics, technology and art. The concepts she wrestles with are expressed in a range of mediums including experimental film and other formats.

The imagery on this page is from her current show, Da Vinci Simulacrum. You can see more by visiting https://www.margaridasardinha.com/work/20

Other themes from past shows include Wave-Particle HyperLightness, Oxymoron Tiling, Hyperbolic Hyparxis, Symmetry's Portal, London Memory and Darkness Reflexions.