670kg of concrete comes from a series of investigations about the material -concrete- which are explored in the book Concrete and Culture by Adrian Forty, historian of architecture and professor at The Barlett School of Architecture.

 

The book analyses concrete, the most emblematic material of modernity, in its relation with modern culture specifically with architecture and explores its influence in how we perceive 'nature', 'time' and 'materiality'.

 

In Forty's words: ‘Concrete is a material that has done many things for us. It has allowed us to overcome nature, it holds back the sea, it has joined continents together and so it transforms the world we live in. […] and as such it is both celebrated and reviled. It may be that it overcomes nature but it also cuts us off from nature. It brings us closer together but it also drives us further apart. This is the paradox around concrete.’ (Adrian Forty, Concrete and Culture)

 

The installation is composed of six concrete columns in self decomposition spread around the space in relation to a video projection of Concrete culture in which the viewer is faced with a series of explosions in quarries for aggregate extraction alongside buildings being constructed with concrete slabs.

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The installation reflects a series of paradoxes behind this material: its association with the future in opposition to its connections to historical and cultural issues of memory and past; its resistance and capacity to overcome nature despite its vulnerability and inevitable degradation and demolition which represents its return to nature; its association with ideals of permanence and durability in contrast with its factual and inherent temporality.

 

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