2024

Site-specific installation for Mataró Prison
Wood
300 x 880 x 60 cm

The Mataró Prison, built by the architect Elies Rogent in 1853, is the first example of the panoptic model constructed in Spain.

In 1791, the British philosopher Jeremy Bentham published the essay Panopticon / The Inspection House. In this work, Bentham outlines the principles of the panopticon (from the Greek “all-seeing /observing”). The project describes a system of absolute and perfect surveillance though a circular architecture designed so that the residents, whether prisoners, patients, schoolchildren or factory workers, are always under strict visual control, even if those being watched cannot see who is watching them and when. Nothing escapes the watchful eye of the guardian.

Originally, the yard of Mataró Prison had a wall that divided in two parts, separating the section for women from for men. Eventually, after some years, when the prison became exclusively for men, the wall was demolished. Today, however, traces of this wall can still be seen on the ground and on walls of the yard.

By reconstructing the wall, this temporary intervention aims to recover part of the building’s forgotten memory and alter the physical experience of the visitors, who will be forced to retrace their steps in order to visit the entire proposal “A Century of European Architecture”

“Wall” is part of the proposal “A century of European architecture” at the MAC Mataró Art Contemporani for the Manifesta 15 biennial.

2024

Wooden shelves, prints on aluminium and bronze model.
162 x 65 x 58 cm

Suomenlinna, Helsinki, Finland
Military fortress / concentration camp / artist residence

At the end of the Finnish civil war in 1918, the victorious White Army and German troops were holding approximately 80,000 “red” prisoners; after summary executions and the release of women and children, 76,000 remained. All were interned in concentration camps; between 11,000 and 13,500 died of hunger and cold. The dead were buried in mass graves next to the camps. One of the camps that was set up – using former military barracks – was the prison camp on the island of Suomenlinna, opposite Helsinki. From 14 April 1918 to 14 March 1919, a total of 8,000 prisoners, members of the Red Guard and sympathisers of left-wing organisations, were interned in the camp. About ten per cent of the prisoners died of starvation and disease.

Today, the island of Suomenlinna is a major tourist destination. One of the main houses used as a concentration camp is an artist’s residence.