Can you imagine a pile of iron ore or a landscape seen through a window on a moving train becoming works of art? That’s exactly what has happened at the “Behind the door there is a city” exhibition, which celebrates the 12th anniversary of the Vale Museum in Vila Velha, Espírito Santo (Brazil).
At the exhibition, the 905 km of rail track linking the Brazilian states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo, its operators, locomotives and iron ore are portrayed in a 800 square meter video art installation. To create the components that make up the installation, artist Eder Santos, from Minas Gerais, explored the world of mining.
Eder spent almost two years observing, getting to know and filming the entire iron ore production process, from its extraction in mines to the moment when it reaches the sea and embarks for other countries. The result is an exhibition full of surprises, which invites us to reconsider the scenes that are part of everyday life for those who live and work in the region.
Find out more about the exhibition
The Vale Museum stands out for its experimentation. It is a versatile space where artists can push back limits. The exhibition, open to the public until February 2011, is divided into three main spaces: a hangar, an adapted train wagon and a projection room.
The hangar hosts a video installation composed of a pile of iron ore eight meters in diameter. Where the train wagon’s windows used to be, there are now screens showing contemporary images and scenes from previous decades of the landscape along the railroad linking Vitória (Espírito Santo) to Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais).
The final part of the exhibition is a space in which images of mine, railroad and port workers are projected onto crude iron ore.