Soaking (working title) - Salinas de Curro, Blanca (ES), 2024 - ongoing

Throughout my ongoing research in Blanca, Spain, I am attempting to engage with the Salinas de Curro (the local decommissioned salt mine) and its hydrogeological heritage through a non-humancentric perspective, working with a range of materials and (participatory) performative actions.

Central to my approach has been soaking — an immersive process of absorption rather than extraction, allowing for the ‘no longer solid’ and the ‘not yet dissolved’ to coexist. Alongside this, I have been testing speculative absurdism, orginating from my previous work (Sealing Practice), as a means to question and challenge our relationship to the site and its heritage through humour and absurdism.

With thanks to Abraham Hurtado.

Soaking encompasses various performance, visual and text works. Below is a selection.

Untitled, 2024
sculpture, ca. 100cm x 100cm x 2cm, artificial grass, clay, nettle & cotton string, Centro Negra, Blanca, Spain

Untitled (participatory performance in the salinas), 2024
Participatory performance, duration ca. 25 min, white linen and cotton fabric, parcel rope, local esparto grass rope, clay from the salinas (salt mine), Salinas de Curro, Blanca, Spain

Rough score: The performance unfolds as a cyclical ritual of unpacking, interaction, and repacking. It begins with me already present in the space, unwrapping linen parcels that hold clay balls and woven coverings for my feet, hands, and head. I place the clay balls on a woven fabric mat and don the coverings. The act transitions as I engage in throwing the clay balls over a wall into a basin of water, into the surrounding landscape, and towards the audience, inviting their participation in throwing the clay into the pool, which they do. The performance concludes with a reflective repacking of the materials, reversing the opening actions.

Video link here.

With curatorial support from Abraham Hurtado and dramaturgical advice from Ran Jiao.

Documentation by Pablo Jordán.