I
Bath / Swimming Pool

As the title of her exhibition Verdet Bath suggests, Caroline Mesquita has created a spa landscape at the HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark, in which her patinated sculptures come together in a lively, almost dancing arrangement. In this installation, Mesquita draws on histories of bathing culture, which in Europe originate in antiquity, when public thermal baths not only served the purpose of cleansing and hygiene, but also had an essential social function and were used as places for entertainment and gathering.

The island of Crete had private bathing facilities and a functioning sewage system as early as 2000 BC. Written in the 8^thcentury BC, The Odyssey, an epic poem which recounts the adventurous journey of King of Ithaca from the Trojan Empire, in many verses mentions the relevance of bathing and bathhouses for the Ancient Greeks. For instance, Odysseus is given a bath before he dines. Numerous passages also describe ritual ablutions before prayers and sacrificial rituals as well as the gesture of offering guests a bath upon their arrival. From the 5^th century BC on, public baths became widespread in Greek cities.

Following the example of the Ancient Greeks, hygiene also played an important role in the late Republic of the Roman Empire. Around the middle of the 2^nd century, the construction of public baths began in ancient Rome, served by the world’s first great water pipeline, the Aqua Appia. Around 400 AD, in Rome alone, there were eleven public bathing establishments, known as thermae. In addition, over 850 private baths were counted. With the decline of the Roman Empire and the destruction of the sewer system by the Goths in 536, the baths in Europe gradually disappeared, although they remained widespread in the Byzantine Empire, where they are typically known as hammams, and are still an important part of culture in the Maghreb and Turkey today.

Mesquita’s ten meter long and four meter wide swimming pool in the hall of HALLE FÜR KUNST is modeled after a bathing landscape in the form of a pedestal: it is a social meeting place. The figures gathered in the bath are in a shared space of experience, they seem to interact with each other, perhaps without needing the same language. Made out of copper and brass plates, Mesquita’s sculptures are produced using various techniques such as shaping, manual folding, squeezing and hammering. The surfaces are then oxidized with ammonia, chlorides and various acids to give them a special color. Characteristic of her oeuvre, the figures are often robot-like in appearance, but also depict animals, especially birds and cats, which she always anthropomorphizes, for example by giving them glasses. Concurrently, the sculptures are not static, but subject to a constant process of transformation through the metals’ oxidation with the air and their patination. Across the exhibition, a bluish-green patina is the most pervasive, evoking the color of water. This hue is a result achieved naturally through weathering, and not only provides the eponym for the old alchemical term Verdet in the exhibition’s title, but also appears throughout many of the sculptures and pictorial representations.

Mesquita’s sculptures are defined by a multifaceted performativity; their identities and relationships are fluid, versatile, and unfixed in both materiality and context. In their composition and arrangement, the works form a site-specific scene which integrates both a recent series and a group of sculptures Mesquita created eight years ago.

As a whole, the structure of the exhibition serves as a theatrical stage for the artist, creating an atmosphere that blurs space and time. Inspired by both the Roman Empire’s thermal baths and contemporary spa layouts, Mesquita’s installation extends across the entire upper floor of HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark, featuring changing rooms in the adjoining room and a fountain in the apse.

Els, 2016
Brass, oxidated brass, paint, resin
175 × 55 × 60 cm

Charmant, 2016
Brass, oxidated brass, paint, resin
175 × 55 × 60 cm

Lotte, 2016
Brass, oxidated brass, paint, resin
175 × 55 × 60 cm

Kevin, 2016
Brass, oxidated brass, paint, resin
175 × 55 × 60 cm

Carolus, 2016
Brass, oxidated brass, paint, resin
160 × 60 × 60 cm

Adam, 2016
Brass, oxidated brass, paint, resin
160 × 55 × 60 cm

Amber, 2016
Brass, oxidated brass, paint, resin
160 × 55 × 60 cm

Richard, 2016
Brass, oxidated brass, paint, resin
160 × 55 ×x 45 cm

Kaspar, 2016
Brass, oxidated brass, paint, resin
160 × 55 × 45 cm

Gentille, 2016
Brass, oxidated brass, paint, resin
160 × 55 × 45 cm

Erik, 2016
Brass, oxidated brass, paint, resin
160 × 55 × 45 cm

Captain, 2016
Brass, oxidated brass, paint, resin
160 × 55 × 45 cm

Billard, 2016
Brass, oxidated brass, paint, resin
175 × 55 × 60 cm

Divine, 2016
Brass, oxidated brass, paint, resin
175 × 55 × 60 cm

Yoan Bulle, 2016
Brass, oxidated brass, paint, resin
160 × 80 × 60cm

Moineau noir (géant), 2024
Patinated brass
180 × 120 × 140 cm

Moineau bleu, 2024
Patinated brass
90 × 40 × 50 cm

Main, 2021
Patinated brass
205 x 70 x 30 cm

Whitney, 2021
Patinierter Messing/​Patinated brass
165 x 55 x 60 cm

Félin bleu, 2024
Patinierter Messing/​Patinated brass
180 × 40 × 50 cm

Grue noire, 2024
Patinierter Messing/​Patinated brass
195 × 60 × 110 cm

Foule, 2024
Patinierter Messing/​Patinated brass
80 × 120 cm

Personnage seul, 2024
Patinated brass
56,5 × 44 cm

Clé, 2024
Patinated brass
56 × 44 cm

Bain de nuit, 2024
Patinated brass
48 × 56 cm 

Bain de jour, 2024
Patinated brass
48 × 56 cm