2013, Viana do Castelo, Portugal
The construction of the temple Santuário de Santa Luzia, which began in 1904, was only finished in the early 40s. Since that time a photographer is taking pictures of the tourists and visitors in front of the church. Almost everybody in Viana do Castelo has a photo taken by him at their home. In times where everybody takes pictures all the time with ease, his analog working process and his attitude towards the motive is emanating a certain kind of fascination. His carefully arranged visual work becomes almost as strong as the architecture itself. Costa and Obermair intervened this given situation in two ways: On the one hand they brought their own anachronistic, object-like camera with them to record in a long exposure process the setting from behind. On the other hand they placed a oval life size mirror in between, to ask the photographer to take a portrait of himself. “Santa Luzia” is part of a series of collaborative works, that are questioning photography on a basic level, as a tool to give insight to the world around us. While theire stay in the AIR programm of AISCA – an art association in Viana do Castello Costa and Obermair worked with cameras as objects of art in a sculptural manner. How are eyes and hands linked, how is perception transferd to action?
