Fábio Colaço Portugal, 1995
Plinth, 6 x 130 x 27 cm.
Standing at 210 cm high and
120 cm long, Truth on the Brink of Collapse (2025) is a delicate and
precarious sculpture composed entirely of playing cards. Built using the logic
of a house of cards, its form is inherently unstable — always on the verge of
falling. The work creates a temporary barrier that conceptually and physically
divides space, time, and opposing forces: truth and falsehood. The use of
playing cards emphasizes the illusion of stability. Each card carries
connotations of chance, deceit, and manipulation, underscoring the fragility of
the structure and the uncertainty it embodies. A single disturbance could bring
the entire piece down, evoking the tenuous balance between belief and
deception. By turning a familiar game into a fragile monument, the sculpture
prompts reflection on the instability of the boundaries we construct between
reality and illusion — and how close they are to collapse.