Leo Pum, Sigaldry, at Pluto, Valencia

“Sigaldry” by Leo Pum, curated by Fran Toré Leandro Mora, at Pluto, Valencia, 16/09/2023 – 22/09/2023.

 Leo Pum’s exhibition for Pluto presents a manifesto where human intervention in the geological biotope implies a technology-nature relationship based on alchemy as a proto-scientific practice. This geological laboratory-deposit consists of “living machines” and mechanical prototypes that provoke an epiphany of connection between software and hardware based on the runic alphabet of electronic symbology. The codes that conform it are a fundamental part of the structure of contemporary modes of production and therefore part of the automatism that constructs today’s reality. An automatism that, in this case, presents itself as a functioning mechanism on its own. The complex unconscious independence that ends up being a hidden reality of active object-subjects, bringing with it a mysterious reason for being, a kind of magical process.

In the installation, we can see through these artifacts how matter is in constant intentional transformation. In this case, the accelerated conversion of rocks into objects of the Anthropocene, where interventionism is the way of being. Rocks and machines are the protagonists of this fiction where every object takes on a “pseudo-life” form, a system of pieces that have a clear relationship with the underground world, a place where Gaia, the Earth as a living being, houses its innards and organs.

For the creation of this imagery, Leo is inspired by Mircea Eliade’s “The Forge and the Crucible,” a book that reveals the transcendence of these tasks in society, from symbology and culture to politics. Here, the amalgamation of legends, ceremonies, and rituals linked to the professions of miners, metallurgists, and alchemist artisans is shown, reflecting the evolution of people’s magical-spiritual perspective in the pre-industrial era regarding matter, from the moment they realized their ability to transform nature. That is why Leo coins the concept “Sygaldry,” which according to the imaginary world of Patrick Rothfuss in “The Name of the Wind,” is a way of manipulating nature through words, symbols and energy; being used to generate artifacts that help heal, illuminate, create weapons, transport, protect and serve various other purposes. In this way, Leo Pum summons a series of ceremonies that, based on his machines, bring to the contemporary perspective a worldview that was born centuries ago.

The installation is made up of rocks and machines, a conveyor belt, drills, penetrators, legs, crystals, chips, circuits, plates, cables, steel plates… a whole set of elements that are part of “The Artificery,” a place where this system of equivalent energy exchange called “Sigaldría” is practiced.

To activate the space, the artists Neutro Gris and Arxénica have generated a live, site-specific sound piece that highlights the most visceral aspect of the processes in this geological laboratory. In order to do this, they experimented with the sounds produced by these living machines and their violent interaction with Gaia.