Lara Almarcegui
Ivry souterrain
19 April–23 June 2013
Opening: Thursday 18 April, 5–9pm
Meet the artist: Lara Almarcegui / Eva González-Sancho,
Saturday 15 June, 4pm
Centre d’art contemporain d’Ivry – le Crédac
La Manufacture des Œillets
25-29 rue Raspail, 94200 Ivry-sur-Seine, France
T + 33 1 49 60 25 06
contact [at] credac.fr
Since the mid-1990s, Lara Almarcegui has been interested in the “interstices” that exist in urban and suburban areas, the empty lots, underground passages, ruins and construction sites, spaces that are normally ignored or overlooked, which she rigorously studies in order to pass on her experience of them. Invited in 2010 to bring her brand of research to the area bounded by Ivry-sur-Seine, Almarcegui focused on the city’s underground reality. The show at Crédac features a selection of the artist’s projects related to a new publication titled Ivry souterrain (Underground Ivry).
The city of Ivry-sur-Seine is currently undergoing enormous change and a profound redefining of its territory, where major development projects are about to break ground. Based on a synthesis of current data on the state of the city’s underground areas, the book Ivry souterrain examines the different periods and below-ground levels of human activity, networks and infrastructures. Old quarries and labyrinthine basements, sacred thermal springs, metro tunnels, buried lakes, networks of water, energy and telecommunications present a genuine portrait of the city through what lies beneath it.
Each of Almarcegui’s works or shows is an objective reproduction of the long-term experience of a place and a synthesis of a large amount of information. This reproduction may assume a monumental aspect (the Rubble Mountains currently on view at MUSAC in León, Spain), or it may be slight and minimalist, such as slideshows, guides, lists of the weights of materials—typologies springing from research or education sources enabling the viewer-reader to make a mental representation of the spaces in question.
While the artist’s projects are intrinsic to their context, they also allow her to freeze a fleeting moment and, through the work of memory, locate it in a longer, more expansive timeframe. The integrity, clarity and systematization of her art with respect to a specific place point up its singularity while making it possible to tease out the issues that have a global resonance.
Excerpts from the press release
Edition
Lara Almarcegui, Ivry Souterrain.
To be published April 18, 2013
Meet the artist: Lara Almarcegui / Eva González-Sancho
Saturday 15 June 2013 at 4 PM
Lara Almarcegui (Zaragoza 1972) lives and works in Rotterdam. She is represented by Gallery Parra y Romero in Madrid and Gallery Ellen de Bruijne Projects in Amsterdam.
Along with her show on display at Crédac, Lara Almarcegui will represent Spain at the 55th Venice Biennial (1 June–24 November 2013).
This exhibition received the financial support of Mondriaan Fund, Amsterdam, and Acción Cultural Española (AC/E). With the careful support of the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris.
Press information:
Axelle Blanc
ablanc.credac [at] ivry94.fr
T + 33 1 49 60 25 04
Open every day (except Mondays) 2–6pm, weekends 2–7pm
Free admission.
A member of the Tram and DCA network, Crédac enjoys the generous support of the City of Ivry-sur-Seine, the Regional Direction of Cultural Affairs for Île-de-France (Ministry of Culture and Communication), the General Council of Val-de-Marne, and the Regional Council of Île-de-France.
Media partners : Slash, Kaleidoscope, Mousse, 02
