Proposition #5: Alhambra was presented initially as one of five interchangeable gate-fold covers wrapping the publication Paul Cullen: r/p/m, published by split/fountain in 2011. This publication includes documentation of Cullen's r/p/m (revolutions per minute) series installed in the artist's Panmure studio in Tāmaki Makaurau. Describing the works, he notes that: "each sculpture proposes, though fails to perform, some kind of rational purposes such as demonstration, observation or measurement." 

Individual r/p/m publication covers focus on one of five proposed locations for a series of hypothetical site-related installations. All of them are at historical centres for scientific study that the artist had visited and researched. Cullen presents a written concept, site images, selected r/p/m sculptures, diagrams and annotated floor plans indicating the placement of works, architectural features and existing objects. These propositional installations explore how notions of space are simultaneously anchored within a given moment while also interlaced with historical traces left behind. 

Visit the Digital r/p/m project page to view all five r/p/m propositions.

The artist's proposition

"The Hall of the Mocarabes [Sala de los Mocárabes] is the simplest hall of the Palace of the Lions [Palacio de los Leones] within the Alhambra. Central to the concept for this project are the fountain and rills of the Court of the Lions [Patio de los Leones]. The Hall of the Mocarabes is a rectangular space running more or less north south, this proposal is for a sculpture in which water is circulated between containers (modified tables) positioned at each end of the hall. In one direction water will be moved by electricity and in the other direction by gravity." 

"The Alhambra is in Granada, Spain, coordinates 38° 54’ 00” N, 3° 3’ 00” W."

—Paul Cullen, 2011

Other r/p/m propositions