Mar Arza

MAR ARZA (Castelló de la Plana, 1976).
"Andamiaje", 2015.
Structure of empty pages, based on the book: El arte de no pensar en nada (The art of not thinking about anything). Assamblage cardboard, wood and metal.
Work referenced on the artist's website.
Measurements: 18 x 29 x 30 cm.
Mar Arza herself defines this work as "An architecture that rises with apparent magnificence traces the profile of a rational and superb façade. It hides a large hole, both real and symbolic. It looks like the scaffolding of nothingness, the fragile shell that envelops a thundering emptiness. Although in philosophy the concept of "scaffolding" is used precisely to refer to the "external structure from which an intellectual construction is organised and configured". The scaffolding houses, or should house, a constructed and coherent thought. What happens in an artistic institution that persists in its emptiness under the imposture of its façade? Arza continues: "The work raises the very present progressive emptying of content in the institutions that govern us and their drift towards arbitrariness. And more specifically, the art institution, which seems to be drifting into intrascendence", as well as "We need contents rather than containers; ideas and subjectivities rather than shells that remain clinging to their emptiness."
Mar Arza holds a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Valencia. She completed her studies at the Carnegie Mellon School of Art in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) and a Masters in Sculpture at Winchester School of Art (Southampton University, England), with a scholarship from the Cañada-Blanch Foundation. Throughout her career as an artist, she has been the recipient of numerous awards, including: Guasch-Coranty Prize at the Valls Biennial and the ArtsLibris Prize, awarded by the Fundació Banc Sabadell (2013); DKV Emerging Artist Award for the best gallery exhibition with the exhibition R E S Q U I C I O (2017) and Swab-Mango Prize for the best young artist.(2016). She has also exhibited in numerous solo exhibitions, including: 2022 A pesar / A saber / A tientas, Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Valencia; 2020 LE HASARD JAMAIS, RocioSantaCruz, Barcelona; 2019 Enser, Galeria Cànem, Castellón; 2018 En Vano, La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, Barcelona; 2016 RESQUICIO, RocioSantaCruz, Barcelona; 2014 Trabajos desde lo imperceptible - Blanc soto negre, Arts Santa Mònica, Barcelona. His work is currently represented in the IVAM, the Museo de Bellas Artes de Castellón, the Colección Norte del Gobierno de Cantabria, the Fundación Banco Sabadell, The Store Collection in Ohio, the Artphilein Foundation in Liechtenstein, the Dalila Barzilai Collection in Brussels, the Museo de Valls in Tarragona, the Fundación Vila Casas in Barcelona, the DKV Collection and the National Art Collection of the Generalitat de Catalunya.