ALMUDENA LOBERA Take Long Take

Description

ALMUDENA LOBERA
Take Long Take

The artist Almudena Lobera not only transforms the space of CentroCentro, but also reconfigures its structure through a sensory intervention. By using colour to transform the strip defined by the glass railing that separates the exhibition galleries, Lobera creates a kind of swimming pool in which the water rises up to the viewer's neck, inviting them to participate in an immersive experience. This gesture becomes the starting point for her offering which, on the other hand, enters into a dialogue with the architecture of the space by creating a bilateral symmetry. By means of a series of galleries that visitors can enter from two different points, the artist constructs an atmosphere of palindrome and déjà vu. The route followed by the viewer becomes a constant reflection between two opposing states: the objective, rational, aesthetic and superficial world on the one hand, and the ethereal, subjective, spiritual and profound world on the other.

The silkscreen "Where the Interior Begins" (Donde comienza el interior) (2021) provides some of the keys needed to properly explore the exhibition. The work depicts a swimming pool that contains a universe in its interior, along with a stepladder that connects to the exterior. In this piece, the water extends to infinity, inviting us to reflect on immensity. As the artist herself said: “The stepladder that allows us to enter the pool, is like the way out of this universe. It is a leap into a void, but the other way round. Infinity enclosed and the enclosed infinite”. The image of the pool, loaded with symbolism, becomes the centre of the offering, acting as a metaphor for the limits of human perception and of the tensions between the finite and the infinite.

The fictional pact that Lobera offers to the viewer is by no means obvious, but rather develops subtly as he or she moves further into the space. Through new drawings, sculptures, installations and videos, Lobera deploys an iconography that reflects her obsessions, always within a process of exploration and search. Taken as a whole, the artist’s intervention creates a space of ambiguity and transience, in which the division between reality and fiction dissolves. In this way, the visitor is encouraged to question his or her own perceptions and to actively participate in an experience that transcends mere observation.

Almudena Lobera (Madrid, 1984)
A visual artist with a BFA and an MA in Art, Creation and Research from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). She is also a Laureate of the Higher Institute of Fine Arts (HISK), Ghent, Belgium. She studied at the Universität der Künste (UdK) in Berlin and has been an artist in residence at the UCL Slade School of Fine Art, London (2010); FAAP Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado, São Paulo (2011); Casa de Velázquez, Madrid (2013), Foundation B.a.d, Rotterdam (2013); Royal Academy of Spain in Rome (2014); Les Récollets, Paris (2015); Tokyo Arts and Space (2018); Pico do Refugio, Azores (2023) and CCA Andratx, Mallorca (2023).

Some of her most notable solo exhibitions include: "Rest" at Parra & Romero, Madrid (2024); "Zerodimensionality" at the Max Estrella Gallery, Madrid (2022); "Where the Interior Begins" at Emergent in Veurne (2021); "Stories" at Espacio CDMX, Mexico City (2020); "Technical Images" at Tabacalera, Madrid (2020); "Véase ibid." at the Arróniz Gallery, Mexico City (2018); "What is Lost" at Island, Brussels (2017); "A Latent Revelation" at the Max Estrella Gallery, Madrid (2016); "Visionary Instruments" at Espacio de Promoción Contemporánea (ECCO), Cadiz (2015); "Superficial Reading" at the ABC Museum at ARCO, Madrid (2013); and "Carriers" (Portadores) at the Diablo Rosso Gallery, Panama City (2012), among others.

Her work has also been exhibited in institutions such as the Bronx Museum of the Arts (New York); the Juan March Foundation (Palma de Mallorca), the Museum of Abstract Spanish Art (Cuenca), the Faena Arts Miami District (Miami), the ARKAS Art Centre (Izmir, Turkey) and the Fabrika Centre of Creative Industries (CCI) at the 6th Moscow Biennale. She has also participated in group exhibitions at the Valencia Museum of Fine Arts, Conde Duque (Madrid), ESPAC (Mexico City), Fabra i Coats (Barcelona), Matadero Madrid and La Casa Encendida (Madrid).

She has received important awards such as the BBVA Foundation Leonardo Grant for Cultural Creators and Researchers (2018); the Residency Grant at the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome (2014‒2015); the Generations Award of the Montemadrid Foundation (2012); and the ABC Museum/ARCO Award (2013), among others. She was also selected for the Visual Arts Circuits of the Community of Madrid (2011) and for the INJUVE Award for Young Art Projects (2011).

Her work can be found in public and private collections, such as: The National Library, the Island Council of La Palma, the National Museum of Chalcography, the Cervezas Alhambra Collection, the Claves de Arte Foundation, CA2M, CCA Kunsthalle Andratx, DKV, Directorate-General for Women - Community of Madrid, the Frieda & Rudy Joseph Collection, the María José Jove Foundation, the Pilar Banús Foundation, the Rafael Botí Foundation, the JoAnn Gonzalez Hickey Collection (New York), the Madrid Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC), the Museum of Modern Art of Bogotá (MAMBO), the ABC Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Spanish Engraving, the Olor Visual Collection, the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome, the Royal Spanish Mint (Casa de la Moneda), the Syzygy Collection (Colorado), the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), the Universität der Künste (UdK), Berlin.

Tiago de Abreu Pinto (Salvador, Brazil, 1984), has curated this exhibition.
He holds a PhD in Art History from the Complutense University of Madrid, with a thesis focused on the PR agency Readymades Belong to Everyone. He has curated exhibitions in galleries, institutions and biennales and participated in numerous international curating programmes such as Contemporary Curatorial Practice ICI, New York; International Curator Course, Gwangju Biennale, South Korea; Curatorial Residency RU, New York; and Capacete, Rio de Janeiro. In Spain he was awarded the “Community of Madrid's Curator Wanted” prize.

As a writer he has published several short novels about artists, such as "Library without Books" (Biblioteca Sin Títulos) (Enric Farrés Duran - MNCARS, Centre d’Art Santa Mònica and La Casa Encendida), "Turn the Page" (Pasar página) (Ignasi Aballí - Athenaica) and Terral (Ivan Grilo - Casa Triângulo), as well as a series of narrative texts such as "Prends garde: à jouer au fantôme, on le devient" (Dalila Gonçalves - Municipal Galleries of Lisbon); "The Total Scab - Free Solidarity" (Lara Almarcegui, Mercedes Azpilicueta, Daniel Jacoby, David Maroto, Falke Pisano, Víctor Santamarina - A Tale of a Tub, Rotterdam); among others.

Architecture: LANZA
Graphic design: Madrid Destino / IMMMM.studio
Exhibition setting up: Arteria
Lighting: Intervento

Details