HCL

HCL is a spatial installation consisting of a ten-meter corridor that ends with a powerful extraction fan. The space remains almost completely dark. A sensor positioned near the end of the corridor activates the light only when the viewer approaches within approximately sixty centimeters of the fan. Until that moment, the passage must be crossed in darkness.

At the end of the corridor the fan operates at full power, producing a loud and constant mechanical noise that fills the entire space. The sound of the ventilation system becomes increasingly dominant as the viewer approaches, reinforcing the physical sensation of being drawn into a functioning mechanism.

The work reflects on the power traditionally granted to the spectator to “digest” an artwork and then regurgitate an opinion about it after consuming it. In HCL, this relationship attempts to reverse itself. Instead of the viewer ingesting the artwork, the installation metaphorically ingests the viewer.

The title refers to hydrochloric acid (HCl), the substance released in the stomach at the moment digestion begins. The corridor becomes a digestive tract, the fan a mechanical stomach, and the activation of light marks the moment when the process starts. The viewer is no longer only an observer, but a body entering the system of digestion.