El tiempo del hijo – Lugadero.

The consolation machine:
a theatrical device

When Duke Gian Galeazzo Sforza commissioned Bramante to remodel Santa Maria Presso di San Satiro in Milan, the church’s plot could not be expanded at its rear; for this reason, the Renaissance architect chose to construct a coro prospettico as a theatrical device to simulate, in just one meter, the depth of a real choir. A trompe-l’oeil that stunned with its realism and Bramante’s audacity to create it in the main nave of the church.

The consolation machine, as a coro prospettico within the expanded stage of ‘El tiempo del hijo’, embraces David Montero in his introspective immersion, exploring the inevitable acceptance of his mother’s loss and his evolution as a son without sons, in a world where family ties and well-being become blurred.

Flanked by lighted candles, the machine is implanted as a contemporary altarpiece with screens on its side streets, which turn on and off unpredictably, like memories that emerge and disappear without apparent cause; a sort of digital wunderkammer that accompanies every scene, becoming a paradoxical symbol of transience and eternity, exploring the emotional layers of the work and serving as a focal point that invites the audience to confront their own reflections on death and grief.

Thus, a symbolic place of healing is created through a living artifact that unfolds a visual narrative inviting reflection on the transience of time and the immortality of memory.