felippe moraes contrasts 26 gradiant flags against rio's landscape

the latest work of brazilian artist felippe moraes, titled ‘progression’, is a striking development of his researches in quantifying the experiences of the world. the project consists of 26 polyester flags first present at the niterói contemporary art museum in rio, which is one of oscar niemeyer’s most praised creations — currently being developed into a larger design.

view of the installation with the bright landscape of rio in the background

felippe moraes‘ work commissioned by the niterói contemporary art museum reveals the percentage of black in each of the flags, challenges our understandings of tones and numbers, and how they can interact with one another. the flags are printed by a sublimation process in polyester and each one of them is 4% lighter than the previous one, therefore going from 100% to 0% — from all black to pure white. curiously, the numbers indicating the percentage in the middle of each flag are shown in the opposite tones of the background — going from white to black in the same 4% proportion.

flags are printed by a sublimation process in polyester and each one of them is 4% lighter than the previous one

the development process, however, being entirely computer-based, has a strong human understanding to it — confronting our conceptual and visual insights to the world. having been recently installed, the work came to strongly reflect brazil’s recent political turmoils that lead to a coup — thus raising a discussion about how our visions of the world can be so fragmented and extreme at the same moment. in this sense, the artist suggests that there are more nuances in the understanding of the surrounding environment, be them visual, political or emotional. ‘[…] having such a strong architectural presence and stunning landscape, it is always a challenge to develop any work in the external area of this building. instead of competing with these two strong visual vectors, I decided to embrace them and discuss our very apprehension of the phenomena of the world, quantifying it and contrasting this rationality with the surrounding space, and also having the strong winds of the area working in favor of the work’, moraes discusses further. 

felippe moraes progression flags at oscar niemeyer’s famous MAC-niteroi

grayscale: the flags challenge people’s understanding of tones and numbers both literally and figuratively

0% flag: the installation has a strong human understanding to it and reflects our current vision of the world

the font color goes in the opposite proportion of the flag background (from white to black)

24% flag 

7 of the gray flags contrasting with the bold red ramp 

the sugarloaf mountain is strikingly dominating the landscape in the background

100% black against the landscape 

the project coincided with brazil’s recent political turmoil that have led to a coup

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lea zeitoun | designboom