Artists-in-Residence in Menorca
This winter, artists Adjoa Armah and Abi Shehu and artist duo Huniti Goldox have been working on site in collaboration with local makers and researchers to create their works for the exhibition ‘After the Mediterranean’
Curated by Oriol Fontdevila, the group exhibition ‘After the Mediterranean’ mobilizes collective narratives around the human and ecological crises that impact the region. Through their works, the artists introduce alternative accounts to those narratives—including a clock for the island in 12 pieces incorporating sand and a future landscape in which the effects of climate change give rise to an underground world.
The artists have worked in collaboration with local makers, suppliers and researchers to develop and realize artworks for the exhibition, including ceramicist Blanca Madruga who has collaborated with artist Abi Shehu to create the ceramic elements in her work.
An artist-led public program will run throughout the exhibition including the performance ‘Kite 2’ by Laia Estruch on her outdoor sculpture with the same name, which takes place on 2 April. Menorcan artist Erola Arcalís will present her series of works ‘Shipwreck Studies’ and lead a photo printing workshop in May using cyanotype to create images incorporating natural materials gathered surveying Illa del Rei.
Huniti Goldox in la Concepció salt mines. Photo: Carlos Torrico
Adjoa Armah with an in progress work. Photo: Carlos Torrico
Adjoa Armah ‘As part of my work are 12 glass orbs and each is suspended and features sand from a beach in Menorca. I think of the sea as a historical repository, with the beaches surrounding it footnotes that can better help us understand it or provide additional information about this history. So we have this object in the gallery, an alternative clock, which links to the geological material and timescale of the island to its other histories.
I feel like I’ve really got to build a relationship with the island and the landscape while in Menorca, and my conversations with geologist Lorena Rasero, archaeologist Irene Riudavets and marine biologist Rita Pabst have been central to the logic of the works.’
Abi Shehu working at local ceramicist studio’s Blanca Madruga. Photo: Carlos Torrico
Adjoa Armah with an in progress work. Photo: Carlos Torrico
Abi Shehu ‘I started my body of work in this exhibition by exploring and photographing the caves under the Vjosa river, which flows from Greece to Albania in the opposite direction of the mass migration of the country.
The continuation of this work in Menorca focuses on materializing the caves through ceramic vases with mouth-like endings in collaboration with ceramicist Blanca Madruga. It was a new experience for both of us, but very constructive.’
Abi Shehu working at local ceramicist studio’s Blanca Madruga. Photo: Carlos Torrico
Huniti Goldox editing their digital installation. Photo: Carlos Torrico
Huniti Goldox, with Areej Huniti and Eliza Goldox ‘To us Menorca has been a collaborator—besides our work at the printing studio Xalubinia and the salt mines by Sal de Menorca, many material references have informed our work. Salt can be seen as a matter of resistance that we use to propose a digital narrative in which the Mediterranean Sea has dried out—and we have been able to incorporate the material in the physical installation.’
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Learn more about ‘After the Mediterranean,’ on view at Hauser & Wirth Menorca from 2 April to 29 October 2023.
