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On the occasion of Microclima Variabile, XXVIII edition of CSAV - Artists' Research Laboratory, Visiting Artist Ibon Aranberri inaugurated his solo exhibition Quaderno del campo.

For his new solo exhibition, Ibon Aranberri presents a work that connects eight realised projects from the last two decades, a route that invites the visitor to reconstruct the original environment. Through a dialogue between written and visual language, the artist shows a series of captions with original information about the works and a graphic reconstruction of those works in space.

In Quaderno del campo, Aranberri challenges the direct and conventional relationship between work, place and description. By replacing the work with plants growing in the garden surrounding the exhibition space, the artist highlights how the definition and perception of a work can be shaped by the context and description itself. Trying in a certain way to find a root of the work’s origin.

This choice of using plants as a substitute for the work invites us to reflect on the value of the art object itself in relation to the context and the narrative that surrounds it. Plants, living and constantly changing elements, emphasise the fluidity and transience of the meaning attributed to works of art. In this way, the focus shifts from the physical object to the network of relationships and meanings that surround it.

Aranberri proposes a change of perspective, inviting the audience to consider not only the art object but also the ecosystem of meanings and contexts in which it is embedded. This approach recalls the philosophy of the artistic biotope, where each element is interconnected and the work cannot be fully understood without considering its environment.

The exhibition Quaderno del campo asks provocative questions about the nature of art and the role of descriptions and contexts in shaping our understanding of artworks. Aranberri invites us to see art not as an isolated entity, but as part of a complex system of relations, where each element contributes to the overall meaning. In this way, the exhibition not only challenges traditional conventions, but opens up new possibilities for interpreting and understanding contemporary art.

The intervention wants to mimic the institutional context of a retrospective of some of the Basque artist's most relevant projects, evoked through elaborations of the texts written for the original exhibitions and planimetric drawings. Where the planimetry signals the presence of an art object, however, the spectator will find himself in front of a vegetal body: the exhibition/installation thus reasons on the triangulation between public, work and context, with particular attention to the narratives and imagery that embed the work and contribute to shaping its perception.

Chiara Buss

I martedì del colore

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