24 toneladas takes as its axis the architecture of the former remand prison in Badajoz, today home to the Contemporary Art Museum of Extremadura and Ibero-America (MEIAC). The project traces a path from the prison’s initial radial design through to the building conceived by architect Galea, which now houses the MEIAC.

After a devastating fire in 1978, the prison effectively ceased to function and was finally abandoned in 1983. The artist focuses the project on the architectural transition from the destruction wrought on the architecture and the deterioration of the radial wings of the prison, which eventually gave way to the current building. After an initial phase of research to classify the Badajoz prison within the taxonomy of the multiple radial architectures existing in the context, the project proposes different interpretations that question the foundations of control and surveillance for which it was originally created, culminating in the materialisation of a series of works ranging from architectural models made through laser cutting and 3D printing, to posters created through screen printing.

Iñaki Gracenea (Hondarribia, 1972) is a graduate in Fine Arts from UPV/EHU. His artistic practice focuses on symbolic violence and the architecture of control, especially in prisons, exploring the tension between dehumanising structures and individuality through painting, drawing and screen printing. He has had solo exhibitions at La Nave (Madrid, 2024), Galería Altxerri (Donostia-San Sebastián, 2023), Santanyí (Mallorca, 2020) and the Montehermoso Cultural Centre (Vitoria-Gasteiz, 2019), and has participated in group exhibitions at La Casa Encendida (Madrid), MACA (Alicante), ARTIUM (Vitoria-Gasteiz), MUSAC (León), Tabakalera, San Telmo Museums (Donostia-San Sebastián), and Artist Space (New York). His work features in collections such as those of ARTIUM, MUSAC, the Bank of Spain and Pamplona City Council. He has participated in international fairs such as ARCO and ARTISSIMA. In 2015, he completed a residency at the Spanish Academy in Rome and at the Lloyd Sealy Library (New York).