Project 38
Hurgar hogar - Marina Rubio
Curated by Mana Pinto
April 19th - May 31st, opening on Friday April 19th from 19h
In June 2019 Tangent Projects gallery opened it’s doors with it’s first exhibition, ELÁSTICO by Marina Rubio. Five years later we are excited for Marina to return to the gallery with new work and a new exhibition, Hurgar hogar, curated by Mana Pinto.
Common belief holds that the lifespan of objects concludes when they break, losing their original function and being relegated to oblivion. Perhaps it's not breakage that causes an object to cease to exist, but rather its lack of memory.
In her artistic practice, Marina Rubio challenges the notion of material obsolescence and invites us to connect with the past. She focuses her practice on collecting found ceramic fragments and restoring broken pieces, documenting these ruptures not as the end but as a starting point for a new narrative. The regenerative power that the tenderness of touch can have, even on that which is not alive. To build things from ruins.
This restoration process not only reestablishes the physical integrity of the pieces but also generates new versions of objects capable of retaining memories beyond their utility. It also invites us to look back. Back to Cabolafuente, the Aragonese village where the artist regularly visits her maternal grandmother, and from where many of the found pieces now inhabit Marina’s studio. From anonymous porcelain remnants that have laid flattened for years on mud paths to objects found in her grandmother's house, which carry with them the reminiscence of the material. A material that is susceptible to being scratched, eroded, shattered, melted, and diluted by memory. Whose lives had already been extended by other hands.
This exhibition includes images, videos, found fragments, and restored and altered objects. Ceramics become a link to the past, weaving stories and shared experiences between generations. Marina gathers ceramic shards from diverse origins to form a mosaic of memories that transcends individual experiences, connecting through the fundamental human desire to understand, belong, and achieve connections at trans-temporal levels. All with a touch of tenderness.
Marina Rubio
Through her sculptural practice, Marina Rubio's work rehearses ways of interfering in the reading of material culture, speculating on the origin and form of the things with which we share our daily lives. She experiments with processes of transformation, linked to the matter that makes up objects, the spaces that we inhabit and that which builds us.
Her works are often born from the study of a concrete materiality, they move between that which is residual, as opposed to that which is constructed; centered on what is accidental, playful or random; working with conscious processes that, at the same time, imply a loss of control over the results.
She graduated in Fine Arts from the Universitat de Barcelona, then received a master’s degree from Bilbao to study Ceramics, Art and Function at the Universidad del País Vasco.
She was a resident artist at the La Escocesa artistic production center, where she actively participated in the organisation’s managing association.
She is part of the Marco y Guarin collective, formed alongside Juan David Galindo Guarin, where they produce large-scale work. Moving from sculpture to installation, they seek to speak about architectural obsolescence, the ruin, archeology and artifice in relation to the political production of history.
Marina has exhibited in many institutions, galleries and art spaces, including Swab, Artnou, Center d'Art Contemporani Fabra i Coats, El Born Center de Cultura i Memòria, Museu Nacional de la Ceràmica i les Arts Sumptuàries (Valencia), Fundació Vila Casas (Palafrugell), CERCO, Sala Juana Francés (Zaragoza), Institut Aragonès d'Art i Cultura Contemporània Pablo Serrano (Zaragoza), Tangent Projects (Hospitalet), Biscaia Aretoa (Bilbao), Intermediae (Madrid), Casablanca Biennial, among others. She has carried out educational projects in collaboration with the CCCB (Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona), MACBA (Museu d' Art Contemporani de Barcelona), La Escocesa, the Harinera community culture center (Zaragoza) and the En Residència program (Barcelona).
Mana Pinto
Mana is a curator and cultural producer based in Barcelona. She holds a dual Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Visual Arts from Fordham University, New York and a Masters on Temporary Space Design from ELISAVA Barcelona School of Design and Engineering; she obtained a certification in Mediation and Education in Museums and Heritage and Cultural Centers from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
She was a participant in the workshop series on community-based curatorial practice ACERCA. Curando el centro: de lo individual a lo comunitario, facilitated by the Cultural Center of Spain in Nicaragua and the first edition of (crear) Situacions: art i pensament participatius, by Centre d’Arts Santa Mònica.
Most recently, she has curated and collaborated in Fluchtpunkt/Vanishing Point 3 with Tsering Frykman-Glen, Tangent Projects (2024), A Young Country Ladies Library, Terranova, Barcelona (2023), Utopia Rambles, Centre d’Arts Santa Mònica, Barcelona (2023), Señales de Humo, Espai Souvenir, Barcelona (2022), Guardar semillas en el cabello, Museum of Contemporary Art of Panama (2022).