àngels barcelona

Aljubs i Grups, 2024

Video, color, sound,
14' 08

Work included in Manifesta 15, Barcelona . Sede Gustavo Gili

While conducting research for another project, the Catalan artist Claudia Pagès encountered two cisterns, dating to the Roman and Moorish periods, respectively. The first, located in Montsant de Xàtiva, is covered with graffiti from the 15th, 16th and 19th centuries. The other, part of the Xàtiva castle complex, is filled with contemporary graffiti. Guided by her interest in language and performativity, Pagès was compelled by how these inscriptions – an accumulation of stories, symbols and signs – capture not only the collapse and fragmentation of time, but also humankind’s desire to make ourselves heard in perpetuity. This insight then led the artist to create Aljubs i Grups, a ritual-esque dance and music performance inside these thousand-plus-year-old water storage facilities, documented on film. For the artist, the process of creating the work was also a means to question the policies of water management and distribution against the backdrop of the extreme drought that Catalonia is suffering through. The work thus underscores that it is impossible to imagine futures without understanding water, time and the relation between them.

View of the work, Aljubs i Grups Exposition Manifesta 15, Barcelona