Galeria Digital do Porto

Jardim da Morêda

Archangel Protocol: Basilisk

Jonathan Uliel Saldanha

Augmented Reality Installation

To enter the artwork, you need to be in the designated area. Please share your location.

Recommendations

Please scan the QR code, point your mobile device towards the palm tree at the centre of the garden, and activate the experience.

Synopsis

Emerging from the ground like an incarnate sign, "Archangel Protocol: Basilisk" occupies public space as an optical entity — part sentinel, part mirage. Conceived in augmented reality and forged in blade-like reflective geometries, the sculpture evokes both the verticality of sacred architecture and the coiled tension of mythical creatures.

This is not a monument, but a transmission interface — a protocol that activates the convergence between celestial logic and subterranean dread. The 'archangel' is a synthetic intelligence, a tactical emissary coded for surveillance, reverberation and transformation. The 'basilisk', whose gaze could petrify, functions as an optical warning system: the sculpture sees us as much as it is seen. In dialogue with Jonathan Uliel Saldanha's wider practice — where sign, ritual and speculative systems intertwine — this work presents itself as a spectral apparition in urban space. It is both interruption and presence, layered in the city like an encrypted ghost. Through its magnified lens, "Archangel Protocol: Basilisk" reflects the asymmetrical geometries of a changing world: where angels use mirrors, and monsters speak in code.

Biography

Jonathan Uliel Saldanha (1979, Paris) lives in Porto and is a central figure of the Portuguese art scene, both in exploratory music and performance. He works as a sonic and scenic constructor, within the intersection of sound, gesture, voice, stage and film, operating elements of pre language, resonant choirs, cyclic percussion, cybernetic systems, unfathomable presence, pressure, haptic memory and allopoiesis.

Team

Daniel Martins

How to get there

In Jardim da Morêda, near the entrance on Rua da Firmeza, find the totem stand installed there.

Coordinates

41.151000, -8.600350