LARA ALMARCEGUI
During my site visits, I was reminded of Lara Almarcegui’s work which occupied the Spanish Pavilion during last years Venice Biennale. In a way comparable to my own practice, Almarcegui examines processes of urban transformation that derive from a cycle of permanent destruction and (re-) construction of the city. Her Guides document empty lands and ruins within the contemporary city, bringing these forgotten areas to public conscience.
Interestingly, she also draws up surveys of all construction materials, including the respective quantities that went into buildings and presents her findings. Based on her research, the artist creates sculptural landscapes by presenting previously unused construction supplies or building piles of recycled materials. When experiencing her work in the 2013 Venice Biennale, I was met by overwhelming, towering mounds of different materials such as brick, concrete and glass: the same type and quantity of materials used by workers to construct the pavilion itself. This combination of Almarcegui’s explorations of the raw fabrics that make up a building in addition to her investigations of sites of change within the city is most fascinating.
I’ve realised recently that I approach my own work in a similar way, firstly by undertaking a deep investigation into the site before transporting my findings to the exhibition space. In the coming months it will be crucial for me to assess how I work outside in the city and my own dialogue with the site before beginning to approach the exhibition space with a critical eye.
SITE VISIT
In my search for materials, I have recently been given permission to access a building whose decrepit state attests to its liberation from utility. Awaiting demolition, in the coming months I will be investigating this transitional environment- a modern ruin. My practice stems from a heightened awareness of the city as I’m interested in the forgotten buildings and undefined spaces that reflect on the evolution of the Urbis itself and the elements that comprise it. Therefore, to access this empty home in my hometown of Warrington is a very exciting development within my work.
Upon entering the site, I found myself operating as a kind of archaeologist of the present. Conducting field research on site, I carefully documented my investigations through photography and video. I decided to spend the first two days attempting to understand the space thoroughly. On the third day I began to use my tools to excavate, to deconstruct the very fabric of this building in order to uncover, to reveal the bare materials in which this building is made. This slowly revealed the built space in its raw form, a product of an exhaustive separation/ extraction process. Through this physical labouring, I began to notice my own dialogue between practical activity, site and material and how I engage and operate in space with materiality.
During this process of investigating this site, I have realised that removing is my way of learning more about the place. Connecting the space to the building, to the materials, the past and the urban structure.
In a way comparable to the work of Gordon Matta-Clark and Robert Smithson, my own enquiries consist of an investigation-oriented practice that provides the possibility or opportunity for a place and its past to become manifest.
Site Documentation
