water stains

In extenso is delighted to present “water stains”, the first solo exhibition in France by the Portuguese artist Andreia Santana (Lisbon, 1991). The exhibition title refers to the residual forms of water, a symbol of life par excellence, left behind on the surface of which it flows and stagnates. Through her new sculptures, the artist materializes this process, creating transparent glass objects inspired by the forms of ex-votos found in the collections of museums and archaeological sites and by waterlogging – a naturally occurring phenomenon whereby archaeological artifacts are preserved by the anaerobic environment of a flooded site. Andreia Santana explores the use of these artifacts and their associated ritual practices and conservative techniques by formulating a personal narrative that links the real and the supernatural, permeated by desires and sexual impulses. This series of glass sculptures, outlined by different metal structures, presents an aggregate of contemporary meta-objects that are deployed in space like spectral presences, placing affections and materiality at the center of the social, the biological, and the political. Through a holistic approach, Santana’s installation calls for interdependence between objects, bodies, and spiritual entities, enhancing its dermatological reading and reinforcing a co-dependent relation between living beings (human, non-human, post-human). In “water stains”, visitors are invited to reflect on the contemporary forces that allow intersectional forms of cooperation to arise along with the contamination of time and space, revealing the nature of matter and objects as possibilities for creating alternative narratives that reassert history as a fluid, non-normative construction.