Irene Zottola: Ícaro (2023)

Curated by Natasha Christia
Mapamundistas Festival, 2023 (curator Alexandra Baurès). Ciutadela, Pamplona.
September 14- October 29, 2023

Irene Zottola has been one the commissioned artists in this year’s festival edition, which explores the notion of Threshold (Umbral). Together with Irene, we worked on the conceptualization and first formalization of her project within a space.

In the installation, the artist employs her book Ícaro (published by Ediciones Anómalas in 2021) as a pretext to revisit her homonymous project, through a series of artworks that encompass diverse formats, ranging from prints to video installations and sculptures.

The exhibition exemplifies the human aspiration to acquire wings, rise and conquer the sky through the five stages of flying. The eternal and ascending versus the vertical fall and the dissolution of all hopes exemplify here any process of personal, existential or artistic overcoming as well as the irrefutable quest to break free of any constraints imposed by tradition or form, and become airborn again and again.

I would like to thank Irene Zottola for her generous invitation to accompany her in this process and, at times, complex but necessary radical transition from the book to the wall.