Natalie Braido (1996) explores and questions the concept of time in her work. They experiment with technologies, using mechanisms and materials that address impermanence and the limits of the material world. Their practice considers both biological and symbolic aspects of nature, combining ephemeral and everyday materials to create systems that investigate the poetics of mutability, instability, and failure.

Hooks (2024) is a device composed of a bamboo rod, two fishhooks, and a motor that creates a continuous movement of approach and retreat between them. The wall-mounted system generates a constant tension: at any moment, the bamboo could snap, breaking the balance that sustains the entire structure.

The work stems from an observation of the physical and symbolic limits of materials and relationships. The bamboo, strained between the mechanical motion and the risk of rupture, enacts a state of constant waiting and fragility. There is something cyclical and inevitable in this gesture: a force that persists, that approaches collapse and averts it for an instant. This work is part of a broader investigation into mechanisms of tension and resistance, where error, friction, and the imminence of failure are integral to the functioning itself. As in life systems, balance here is temporary, precarious, and alive.

The work was featured in the exhibition Diagrama de Fases – Natalie Braido, at Galeria Marli Matsumoto (2025).