Autoimmunity and Allergy

8 - 30 November 2024

MAD Gallery

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Allergy is a bodily phenomenon that reflects the impact of the environment on the individual.
It is an exaggerated reaction of the immune system when it recognizes an external factor as a threat, triggering a maladjusted response from our body's defence. Can buildings trigger a similar process? Autoimmunity and Allergy by Serra Behar invites the public to explore the symbolic relationships and analogies between the concepts of allergy and the wear and tear of visible urban surfaces. Just as the skin reacts to the environment with different sensitivities, a building façade also needs repair and replacement in a constant process of response to the urban environment. In this sequence and narrative of pieces, Behar works on fragments of tiles that she has collected from construction sites with buildings in the process of being demolished, seeking to establish correlations between the skin, the allergies that plague it, and the façades of buildings that she sees disappearing on her various walks through the city.
                   
Tiles are striking elements of Portuguese aesthetics and architecture, and Behar works with them as fragments of memory and cultural identity, pieces that, when removed from their unit or worn away, reveal what lies beneath the visible surface.
                   
Both removing tiles and preserving or restoring them reflect human attempts to manage memory, tradition, and modernity in the face of advancing construction and urbanization.
                   
Tiles are like the skin of buildings - just as buildings are second skin to our bodies, susceptible to degradation over time, loss of colour, cracks or forced removal. Each piece removed leaves a mark, exposing internal layers that, like scars, represent vulnerability and resistance.
                   
On the other hand, Behar uses the diagnosis of autoimmunity as a metaphor for a self-destructive process within the system, where the effort to modernize or renew ironically leads to its own undoing. Just as the immune system mistakenly turns against the body, our relentless push for urban transformation results in the gradual destruction of the cultural and historical layers that give our cities their identity. This metaphor raises a critical question: are we, in our pursuit of progress, contributing to the erosion of the very essence that defines us, perpetuating a cycle of self-destruction under the guise of renewal?
                   
Frederico Vicente