Gru.a is an architecture office based in Rio de Janeiro, founded in 2013 by Caio Calafate and Pedro Varella. Their practice sits at the intersection of architecture and art, exploring how spaces, structures, and material gestures can acquire new readings beyond their function. Their architectural work, art installations, and exhibition designs are assertive assemblages where the tectonic and the conceptual find a precise balance.
The piece proposed for the LIGA space, Zócalo para cosa alguna, stems from research into Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro and the Zócalo square in Mexico City as examples of "empty monumentality." It is a reflection on these unique urban spaces that, without a specific purpose or function, become surfaces open to collective action and imagination.
The installation introduces a hidden, imperceptible plinth into the LIGA space, subverting the idea of the traditional pedestal. Integrated into this new level is a reflecting pool, supported by a pumping system that generates a soft sound, movement, and vibration of the water. This gesture, both technical and poetic, presents the visitor with the possibility of another landscape—one that is shared and mutable. Here, monumental empty spaces are reconfigured from an intimate scale, inviting a reconsideration of how the public and the collective are constructed, inhabited, and transformed.
