Client: city hall of Alcaçovas, Lisbon (Portugal) and Paris

Overview

Eight lighting-based sculptures placed in the square of Largo du Carmo in Lisbon evoke the red carnations offered by the crowds to the young soldiers who liberated them from 48 years of dictatorship. Eight for the number of secret meetings organized by the insurgents as a prelude to the revolution. The artist projected the GPS coordinates of these meeting places into the facades of surrounding buildings. the choice of the place is symbolic because it is in the building of the National Republican Guard that the chief of the fascist state surrendered to the insurgent.

Goals

The forms of these sculptures not only evoke carnations, but also the chimney-top extractors, whose petal-like blades shimmer across Lisbon's rooftops. Just like a weathervane, these carnations of light turn with the direction of the wind.
The title of this piece "GIRANDOLA" (the Portuguese word for a chimney-top air extractor) is similar to "Grandola," the title of a revolutionary song that graced Portugal's radio waves just before the revolution. There are many different readings and signs in this complex piece.

Process

This project is above all, a celebration of the Portuguese Revolution, the downfall of a fascist state, decolonization and the peaceful establishment of democracy. The red carnation is a symbol of liberty, peace and hope for all mankind.
Soon a Girandola be permanent on this site as a witness to this unique event, the other seven are in phase transfers in their respective places. already One sculpture has found a home in Alcáçovas, the 9 setember 2013, which has been the first meeting or captains founded the movement of armed forces (MFA) and the seven others are due to be exhibited in places where the pre-revolutionary meetings were held.

Additional Information

The artist also wished that the "Carnations of light" go beyond Portugal, to other cities in Europe and the world, leaving these Portuguese borders, the red carnation becomes a universal symbol of freedom, peace and hope for the world.. One example was recently placed in the Place de Châtelet in Paris for the Nuits Blanches art festival, the proof that this work is living and evolving.