THEY WILL SPREAD
"Se propagarán sin retorno ni distancia" is the exhibition display for a namesake show curated by Blanca del Río at Sala Amadís in Madrid, organized by the Spanish Youth Institute, Injuve.
The main concept of this display is to embrace the dissonant elements of the exhibition space. Located in the basement of an administrative building, the room is dominated by six reinforced concrete pillars that interrupt any attempt at creating an open, unobstructed space. Instead of working against this condition by trying to hide or disguise the existing structure, the design proposes a system that embraces these obstacles through repetition. Based on the original placement of the pillars, a dense grid is created by multiplying these elements. This network of pillars is used as a system to connect a series of pieces, which gain prominence by diminishing the presence of the pillars through saturation.
“In spite of the apparent uniformity conveyed by this structure, we enter a forest with an unpredictable cartography, marked by the multiplication of an initially dissonant element that allows us to stray and open ourselves to another possible orientation, and to discovery,” explains Blanca del Río, the curator of the exhibition.
The subconscious image conveyed by this space is one of weight—a heavy load that must be supported by an unusual concentration of structural supports. However, this image dissolves as the false nature of many of these elements is revealed; some are open or distorted to accommodate parts of the artwork on display.
A uniform color is ultimately applied to the entire exhibition intervention, once again aiming to make an installation that occupies substantial visual space become almost invisible. Nonetheless, the system shifts attention away from the installation itself and towards the artworks and the relationships established between them, making it possible for a visitor unfamiliar with the original space to overlook the intervention altogether.
CREDITS
Exhibition display: BURR (Elena Fuertes, Ramón Martínez, Álvaro Molins, Jorge Sobejano)
Team: Jesús Meseguer, Amanda Bouzada, Natalia Molina and Alba Aparicio.
Exhibition curator: Blanca del Río.
Production: ARTE 19
Institution: INJUVE.