Antofagasta and the Artistic Challenge of the Atacama Desert | Johannes Pfeiffer

Johannes Pfeiffer

The invitation to SACO1.0 Biennial implied a major challenge: creating artwork for Sitio Cero, an exhibition area of 4500 square meters in the Port of Antofagasta, and making an installation in the desert.

My great passion in art is the dialog with spaces –both indoor and outdoor. At this moment, I’m especially interested in dealing with the desert. It is often used as a synonym for infinite or “void” space, which is by no means certain. The desert is alive but is too inhospitable for human beings, so it is a landscape without them. Dialoging with the desert and changing its face for a brief time was a fascinating experience for me.

The secret of a site-specific installation resides in accepting the environment by its essence. This means I need to get involved with the character of the place to access an unconscious knowledge. My intuition guides me. In this particular place, the light and the apparent void take an important role. My spontaneous idea was to highlight this for a brief moment. I covered the rocks that had fallen from the mountains with a wire mesh and put a red fabric over them. The process was as if I was charging the chosen rocks with energy. I gave them a special meaning with the red cloth. A bright red in the desert landscape, beautiful but also dramatic. The red color implies both pain and love. The red spots in the desert are like lighthouses in the sea. They help us with a sense of direction. They help us to look inwards. Like a mirror, they reflect themselves in our spiritual inner. Desert and “void ‘’ bring infinite diversity and abundance.

I took the empty molds of the rocks on a trip to the Port of Antofagasta. The heavy stones transform, becoming lighter so they can appear with a new character. Even in the harbor, their shapes rest heavily at the Sitio Cero. But its essence has changed. The port is the departing and arriving point for a trip. The red shell of the rocks lies next to the containers, waiting to be shipped to a new and unknown destiny. That uncertainty remains.

The good thing about artworks is that there is no need for everything to be clear or legible. The unexplained persists. Art gives a secret to the audience that each one´s essence fills. There is a transformation through art, and transformation also means comprehension. The spectator cannot avoid keeping the impression of having won something that is innerly processed. Nothing remains as it was, and that’s why the ephemeral character of the installation in the desert is a precious metaphor for nature, people, and its history.