L'ÚLTIMA TERRA

"LÚLTIMA TERRA" (The last clay) is an artistic research project that takes as a case study and pretext the last batches to be extracted of a type of white clay called argila Remei (literally, “Remedy clay”). Remei clay was extracted throughout the 1980s and 1990s from sites in Castell d’Empordà (la Bisbal) and Monells, as well as from various sites in Fonteta, Sant Climent de Peralta and Canapost.

With a more porous and rougher texture than red clay, white clay was more suitable for making plain, tough and hard-wearing objects that required little modelling, such as the products of the tile-making industry. It was also used as an engobe, due to its colour. The arrival of clays from elsewhere and the end of extraction permits meant that the use of this clay fell away. Since then, its stored reserves have gradually been depleted and it is estimated that they will run out in just over a year. Nowadays, this clay is only used to make mixtures with other types of clay.

The imminent disappearance of Remei clay invites us to reflect on how extractive dynamics and their related practices (artisanal, industrial, artistic, etc.) define and transform a particular area. It also helps us to focus on other current issues playing out in other places.

Meanwhile, the extinction of a clay that has fallen out of use and is no longer extracted can also be understood as a metaphor for our pace of consumption, the fragility of natural resources and the supremacy of the Anthropocene. Based on this research work around the history of Remei clay and the extraction work of the Argiles Colades clay mining company, the artist proposes a series of visual, objectual and performative approaches that, at the same time, speculate on the possible fate of this last clay.

— Artistic research, 2023-2025