Ibon Aranberri
One could say that in local contexts with a marked national identity, the formalist tradition becomes prioritised in ways that are not always adjusted to the hegemonic version of modernity. Hastily we become forced to create an iconography that could be quickly accepted. Under the common imaginary, differentiating signs can be found, paradoxically to pre-established international aesthetics. In that sense, one of the artist’s creative praxis becomes itself the de-codification of the universal imaginary, as an accomplished way to respond to that cultural background. In addition it’s a way for one to keep distance from the place it inhabits. In the domains of the Basque Country (Spain), sculpture as an art form has played a decisive role in order to construct that iconography. The object was intrinsically linked to the symbolic landscape. To catalyse the metaphysical load reinforced around the art object was one of my obsessions at first. I’ve tried to understand the landscape only as a stage and to neutralise the object in favour of language, towards the operability of the signs. Now, the idea of sculpture has become as an experiment, a proposal. To delimit my area of activity, taking the measurement of time and space, creating a linear method which progress as a continuous transition. Escaping from the issues of repetition or style, it tends towards ground zero. But beyond literacy, the fact itself has to occur materially. By forcing imagination it is possible to create disorder in reality. Moreover, the transparency in which reality is presented makes it easy for the public to incorporate the artwork. As a result of this, social and political correspondences can be generated. Recent works include; Light over Lemoniz (2004-2005). An old abandoned nuclear power station that has never been in use, thanks to social opposition and armed action. The plan (unsuccessful) was to reconstruct that episode on a map. By mixing happening, pyrotechnics, mass-movement and graphic documentation, a virtual  “harmony” could be created. Cave (Ir. T. no 513), (2003), in which the entrance of a prehistoric cave which was physically closed, creating a distortion in the landscape surrounding it as well as in the original mythological culture. The habitat has been documented in its altered form.

Light over Lemoniz
2000…

This is a unrealized project, that was supposed to happen in the summer 2000 next to Lemoniz, which is an abandoned nuclear plant, 20 km far from Bilbao. The plant was closed before even start working in 1981 due to the dangerous situation at the moment. This area still has a deep cultural meaning in the recent history of the Basque-Country, full of dramatic memories. The idea was to organize a public event next to the abandoned nuclear plant with fireworks spectacle and mixed symbols from the past decades fighting. At the end the event was forbidden by the private owners of the plant because of the actual political situation. The consequence was that later I´ve been arrested accidentally by a random check and accused to carry on my bag suspicious materials like the plans of a power plant and samples of rockets.

Firestone, 1997
video 16 min

An accident and/or animated cartoons. The black tyre rolls down the field without stopping, as if something had occurred at the top. At times it can escape and bowl right down to the road, but nothing will happen. You have to give it a good push to correct its path. It can pick up speed and then it’s difficult to hang on. The worst bit is getting the wheel back up to the top, as it’s exhausting work. Repeating the experience has a hypnotic effect. And the people who have stood around watching will capture the action in photos and on video.

A prehistorical cave has been physically sealed off.  Its original features have been transformed. The silhouette of the structure reproduces the shape of the opening in the rock. The development of this alteration of the landscape will depend on its ability to adapt to its environment.  It will depend on the responses it provokes in nearby inhabitants, and will have to withstand whatever treatment or aggression befalls it.  The installation gains meaning from the place in which it is placed.  It connects with the imaginary archetypes of the local culture, where the imbedded romantic tradition still represents pre-history as the great myth of our origins.  The definition of the collective identity rests heavily on the idea of landscape as a symbolic scenery.  Here, the depth of content is trivialized and thus becomes sign. 

This is “remake” of the original sculpture of the “abstract icon” of the Basque Parliament and has provided a kind of a visual backdrop to all the politicians who are using the podium and are addressing the parliament.  This work has been immortalized through the media reporting from the parliament making it a highly recognizable to the general audience. This new work was a mental reconstruction of this sculpture, following the partial vision of the original. The sculpture was transformed into a functional audio transmission object enabling the audience to hear random live radio programming.