DISSEMINAR L'ÚLTIMA TERRA

Galeria Espai19
C/ Maignon 21 (Lesseps)
Programa Art Nou Barcelona 2025

Resume

“Disseminar l'última terra”, by artist Miquel Matas Ferrer, articulates a discourse deeply rooted in the axes of memory, territory, and materiality, with the white clay of La Bisbal d’Empordà as a central element of both research and formalization. The project begins with a phrase that emerged in a dream (I no longer remember the smell of wet clay)—not as a decorative or escapist image, but as an epistemological source—unfolding a situated practice that investigates the boundaries between subjective experience and the collective construction of memory.

This oneiric origin—the dream as a threshold between consciousness and the unconscious, between reality and projection—runs through the entire exhibition as a constant. It is within this ambiguous relationship that the forms become evocative, open, and susceptible to multiple readings, where Matas Ferrer’s work finds its particular potency.

Through a material and process-based approach, Matas Ferrer understands clay not only as a plastic medium, but as a repository of meaning: a substance rooted in a specific place—the Empordà region—laden with historicity and capable of storing physical, symbolic, and emotional traces. His work with clay unfolds across multiple formats: raw and fired modeling, as pigment in pictorial applications, and other explorations in its dry state. This material experimentation becomes the core of his artistic production, fundamental to the development of a practice that lies between gesture and memory, between bodily presence and the archaeology of form, resulting in a series of installations and pieces that make up the exhibition.

The exhibition is built upon works that tension the dichotomy between fragility and permanence, approaching matter as a space where vital processes are inscribed. Here, form is not presented as a final result, but as a trace or index of a process of relation with the earth—an earth that is both physical material and symbolic entity. In this sense, Matas Ferrer develops a sculptural practice that can be read as a non-verbal writing of memory through construction materials, marks, cracks, and textures.

The exhibition presents itself as a poetic and critical dissemination of these last remnants of clay, in different formats and registers, as a reflection on the exhaustion of resources and the memory of places.

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Català - Text full de sala:

Disseminar l’última terra, de l’artista Miquel Matas Ferrer, articula un discurs profundament vinculat als eixos de memòria, territori i materialitat, amb l’argila blanca de La Bisbal d’Empordà com a element central de recerca i formalització. El projecte pren com a punt de partida una frase dins un somni (ja no recordo l’olor de fang moll)—no com a imatge decorativa o evasiva, sinó com a font epistemològica— per tal de desplegar una pràctica situada que indaga en els límits entre l’experiència subjectiva i la construcció col·lectiva del record.

Aquest origen oníric del projecte —el somni com a llindar entre consciència i inconscient, entre realitat i projecció— travessa tota l’exposició com una constant. És en aquesta relació ambigua on les formes esdevenen evocadores, obertes, susceptibles de múltiples lectures, i on el treball de Matas Ferrer troba una potència particular.

És així com a través d’una aproximació matèrica i processual, Matas Ferrer entén l’argila no només com a mitjà plàstic, sinó com a dipòsit de significats: una substància arrelada a un lloc concret —el territori empordanès—, carregada d’historicitat i capaç d’emmagatzemar empremtes físiques, simbòliques i emocionals. El treball amb l’argila es desenvolupa en múltiples formats: modelatge en cru i cuita, com a pigment per a aplicacions pictòriques, i altres exploracions en estat sec. Aquesta experimentació matèrica es converteix en el nucli de la seva producció artística i esdevé fonamental en el desenvolupament d’una pràctica que se situa entre el gest i la memòria, entre la presència del cos i l’arqueologia de la forma tot configurant una sèrie d’instal·lacions i peces que formen part d’aquest exposició.

La proposta expositiva es construeix a partir de peces que posen en tensió la dicotomia entre fragilitat i permanència, abordant la matèria com a espai d’inscripció de processos vitals. La forma no es presenta aquí com a resultat final, sinó com a rastre o indici d’un procés de relació amb la terra, una terra que és alhora material físic i entitat simbòlica. En aquest sentit, Matas Ferrer desenvolupa una pràctica escultòrica que pot ser llegida com una escriptura no verbal de la memòria a través de materials utilitzats per a la construcció, marques, esquerdes i textures.

L’exposició es presenta com una disseminació poètica i crítica d’aquestes últimes restes d’argila, en diferents formats i registres, com a reflexió sobre l’esgotament de recursos i la memòria dels llocs.

— Exhibition

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