Alexandre Estrela: RedSkyFalls

When an earthquake registers somewhere on Earth, a grinding noise sounds, the projected lines snap into the grooves of an engraved aluminium plate, and everything stops. About thirty seconds later the creatures ease back into motion. The Potrero View's reviewer saw it happen about twice in twenty minutes.

This is one piece of RedSkyFalls, which Alexandre Estrela made for Portugal's pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale. The Wattis has a single Réplica (larva): a 50 by 35 cm plate engraved with artificial creatures, lit by an animation built from animal behaviour data. You watch the shapes sway to electronic beeps that speed up and slow down, and the freeze copies how animals go still in a quake. In a city that shrugs off a 3.5, these creatures freeze for tremors on the far side of the planet.

Go knowing it is one plate on a wall, beside the elevator in the Simpson Family Makers Building, reached through the security office at the Hooper Street gate. It's free.