Lara Almarcegui
Art 41 Basel – Art Statements
Hall 0.1, booth S16
Lara Almarcegui (1972, Zaragoza, Spain)
Lara Almarcegui’s projects explore the various connections between architecture and urbanism, focusing on abandoned spaces or structures that are in the process of being demolished. Her projects and interventions question the present state of the world of development and construction, and are designed to instigate a dialogue on the different elements that make up the ever-changing physical form of our urban landscapes.
The project for Statements is composed of two wasteland documents and a calculation of the weight of the Fair Hall 0.1 in Basel.
The two Wastelands collect the action of the protection and conservation of two empty and abandoned areas, which have never been exposed to landscaping, urban planning or any other form of design. The first wasteland is located around the River Ebro near Zaragoza. The second terrain is an island in The Danshui River in Tapei in Taiwan and is located in a very highly populated area. Each site has been, or continues to be, preserved in its unplanned state.
The works consist of two slide- projections with 80 images each.
The List of Materials of Almarcegui is especially produced for the Basel Art Fair and consists of a wall text that shows which materials are used to construct the space of Halle 1 in Messe Basel. The list gives details on each separate material and it’s weight and ends with the total weight of the building. The list is written directly on the wall, which creates a physical awareness of the architectural surroundings. The list is the result of a precise calculation of each part of the building, with the help of the engineers involve in the construction.
Lara Almarcegui is born in Zaragoza, Spain in 1972 and now lives and works in Rotterdam. She had solo exhibitions at INDEX, Stockholm (2004), FRAC Bourgogne, Dijon (2004) and Centro Arte Contemporáneo, Malaga (2007).
She presented projects at the Liverpool Biennial (2004), at the Frieze Art Fair Special Projects (2006), at the São Paulo Biennial (2006), and the Sharjah Biennial 8, Arabic Emirates (2007), the 7th Gwangju Biennial, at La Galerie, Noissy-le-Sec (2007), and the Taipei Art Biennial (2008).
Her work participated in the Barbican show on “architecture for a changing planet”, London, the 2nd Athens Biennial (2009), the Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster and the 10th Biennale de Lyon (2009). She just finished her solo at Ludlow 38, New York, and participated in the groupshow in BOZAR on Spanish contemporary art, which is still running.
Upcoming: exhibition (solo) at Secession, Vienna and publication by Latitudes/Max Andrews & Mariana Canepa Luna
Ellen de Bruijne Projects
Rozengracht 207 A
1016 LZ Amsterdam
The Netherlands
+31(0)20 5304994
+31(0)20 5304990
edbprojects [at] cs.com
Image above:
Lara Almarcegui
An Empty Terrain in the Danshui River, Taipei
2009
Courtesy of Ellen de Bruijne Projects
