Carreras
Mugica

The exhibition Artes de la Tierra (Arts of the Earth) offers a reinterpretation of the transformations that artistic practices have undergone in recent decades against the backdrop of an increasingly evident and overwhelming environmental crisis. Drawing on a multidisciplinary and diverse cartography, the exhibition offers a possible inventory of tools, prototypes and hypotheses. These are presented not in a “prescriptive” manner, dictating what should be done, thought or felt, but rather in a documentary style, gathering signs of the shift that, over the last 60 years at least, has affected aesthetic production in terms of both materials and awareness of them. This transformation is attested to by a number of historical works, partially or totally reconstructed, recreated or reactivated, as well as contemporary pieces which, far from seeking to last forever, pave the way for a circular economy of art. Their existence is thus contingent on the maintenance of the ecosystems in which they originate and to which they will return.

Artists from several generations of the recent past and from very different cultures have wondered how to work with the earth when it most needs care and repair; how to appreciate and repay its gifts; how to learn from what it gives us, when it seems stripped of its original richness. The constructive potential of soil and the substances that compose it takes us far beyond the classic formulations of sculpture, architecture, design, or landscaping. The soil, in a concrete, close and dynamic sense, is the scene of incessant communication and exchange, of essential solidarity between species constantly transcended for the good of the whole. The works of art, projects, documents, and objects of ancestral knowledge are joined in Earth Arts by a museography that makes use of new locally sourced, compostable, or recycled materials and an innovative approach to exhibition logistics, reaffirming and expanding the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao's commitment to sustainability.

Curated by Manuel Cirauqui