Barandilla/katalepsis [Railing / Katalepsis] (2016)
Plaster, ink, and iron sculpture
6 meters
BA Collection
Inventory No.: 2016.345.1
Nora Aurrekoetxea and Laura Ruiz take as their point of departure the interpretation of symbols—Bauman’s solid–liquid dichotomy—in order to move toward materiality through process. Their sculptural installations, linked to other areas of expression such as video art and photography, are articulated as subjective experiences that act as generators of reflection and critical thought. From this theoretical and aesthetic position, they analyze local territory and imagery, as well as the Basque context after the ceasefire—a situation that can be identified with any global political conflict—leaving open the question: what happens to solid elements that were valid and legitimized in a past era when a time of transition and process arrives, in which those elements dissolve into a liquid time?
In this work, they seek to establish a dialogue between memory and the present moment within the Basque sociopolitical conflict. With Katalepsis, they assert that past and present are one in our imaginary and, therefore, in our identity. To this end, the exhibition brings together elements from different disciplines (photography, video, sculpture, and performance), forming an installation that mixes construction materials with plastic and archival photographs.