Lara Almarcegui: Construction Materials, Wastelands and Mining Rights, who owns the ground and who can extract it
In this lecture, artist Lara Almarcegui will share insights into her work, with a focus on her projects dealing with mineral rights. With an introduction by Cornelia Escher, HTC Professorship, IKA. Part of the lecture series IKA Lecture Series Summer 25.
Based in Rotterdam, Almarcegui has built up an artistic practice around exploring the material aspects of land and urban space. For over twenty years, she has worked in different cities, identifying abandoned, unused, or forgotten sites and examining the contemporary transformation processes brought about by social, political, and economic change. In recent years, Almarcegui has turned her attention to construction sites, in particular the composite materials used in the construction of new buildings and the cyclical relationship between land and architecture.
Almarcegui has completed commissions for numerous international biennials and represented Spain at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013). She is represented by Gallery Ellen de Bruijne Projects in Amsterdam and Mor Charpentier, Paris.
Recent solo exhibitions are Halted Quarry, GfZK, Leipzig, Gravas y Arenas, Museum Patio Herreriano, Valladolid (2024); Stopped Quarry, Gallery Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam; Graves, La Panera Art Center, Lerida (2021); Lara Almarcegui Deep Inside Out, Graphische Samlung ETH, Zurich; Beton, CAIRN, Digne; Agras Volcano: Mineral rights, Museum IVAM, Valencia (2019). Gravel, Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam (2018); Sand, Kunstverein Springhornhof, (2017); Le gypse, Casino Luxembourg (2016); Kunsthaus Baselland; Museum Den Haag (2015); Mineral Rights, Gallery Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam (2015); CREDAC, Ivry sur Seine, MUSAC, León (2013).
Group shows include 'Learning from the earth’, Art Safiental Biennale, Tenna. XIV Bienal de La Habana. ‘Cycles'. Garagem Sul. Architecture Triennale, Lisboa. ( 2022) 5 Site Encounters, M+ Hongkong, Rabat Biennale ( 2019), Cuenca Biennale (2018), Lyon Biennale (2017), Wohnungsanfrage, HKW, Berlin ( 2015), Manifesta IX, Genk; TRACK, Gent (2012), Radical Nature, Barbican Art Centre London, Shenzhen Biennale, Athens Biennale (2009), Taipei Biennale, Gwuangyu Biennale (2008), Sharjah Biennale (2007), The 27 th São Paulo Biennial, (2006), Seville Biennial (2006) and the Liverpool Biennale (2004).