Interpretation de Rebeca Sánchez-Valiente (Down Toledo) of a work by Pierre-Louis Floquet (Féminités).

The first of these pieces is an interactive installation at whose centre a Roman temple stands. The public must walk around it and follow the crisscrossed traces of the three cultures that join in this unique town, where, as it happens in the work, murmured echoes of  Romance, Arabic and Hebrew are heard, forming a kind of gibberish that contrasts with the fourth language, that of silence. “This contrast is a clear inspiration of the present we live, a time of pause and reflection, and also of uncertainty. Silence, which under normal circumstances is a privilege, today prompt us to look at the past so as to question ourselves about the future”. It is a monumental work that is located on the main facade of the museum, on the paseo del Miradero, a space dedicated to temporary exhibitions of the great sculptors from CORPO.

A second sculpture is on display in the museum’s cloister; it consists of three urban profiles that intersect in the open sky of the courtyard, and reflect the Toledo’s cultural diversity once more. They are a number of metal plates worked as layers of history and art on the same stone, layers to which now that of the contemporary art is added. The work of Garaizabal (Madrid, 1971) is internationally known for its evocation of the wounded memory of the peoples, which the sculptor rescues and recovers from oblivion.

“Stone over Stone” speaks about how cultures have overlapped in the world, the artist argues. “I conceive the planet as a stone, on which mankind has been putting pebbles, what remains from the passage of a civilisation through a concrete place”.  Paradoxically, “I always think about stone, because I recreate buildings, constructions of memory, and it is precisely stone the only material I do not use. The contrast, once again”.

“I conceive the planet as a stone, on which mankind has been putting pebbles, what remains from the passage of a civilisation through a concrete place”. Starting from this premise, the Madrilenian artist Juan Garaizabal has raised two sculptural groups that are exhibited at the Toledo headquarters of the Collection Roberto Polo. Centre for Modern and Contemporary Art of Castilla-La Mancha (CORPO). Its title is “Stone over Stone”: two monumental installations that evoke the trace of the three old civilisations on which this unique town is built, a town that is itself an immense rock.

The exhibition places Toledo in the wake of great international capitals like Chicago, Berlin, Washington, Miami, Venice or Seoul, and quite recently Paris, Shanghai and Beijing, which possess a public sculpture by the artist, one of the most internationals Spanish creators today.

Profile of the three cultures that converge in Toledo, “Stone upon Stone” in the cloister of CORPO. © Miguel Bonache

“Stone upon Stone”, sculptural installation at the main entrance of CORPO.
© Colección Roberto Polo

Profile of the three cultures that converge in Toledo, “Stone upon Stone” in the cloister of CORPO. © Anna Alós

The first of these pieces is an interactive installation at whose centre a Roman temple stands. The public must walk around it and follow the crisscrossed traces of the three cultures that join in this unique town, where, as it happens in the work, murmured echoes of  Romance, Arabic and Hebrew are heard, forming a kind of gibberish that contrasts with the fourth language, that of silence. “This contrast is a clear inspiration of the present we live, a time of pause and reflection, and also of uncertainty. Silence, which under normal circumstances is a privilege, today prompt us to look at the past so as to question ourselves about the future”. It is a monumental work that is located on the main facade of the museum, on the paseo del Miradero, a space dedicated to temporary exhibitions of the great sculptors from CORPO.

A second sculpture is on display in the museum’s cloister; it consists of three urban profiles that intersect in the open sky of the courtyard, and reflect the Toledo’s cultural diversity once more. They are a number of metal plates worked as layers of history and art on the same stone, layers to which now that of the contemporary art is added. The work of Garaizabal (Madrid, 1971) is internationally known for its evocation of the wounded memory of the peoples, which the sculptor rescues and recovers from oblivion.

“Stone over Stone” speaks about how cultures have overlapped in the world, the artist argues. “I conceive the planet as a stone, on which mankind has been putting pebbles, what remains from the passage of a civilisation through a concrete place”.  Paradoxically, “I always think about stone, because I recreate buildings, constructions of memory, and it is precisely stone the only material I do not use. The contrast, once again”.

Sunday

from 10 am
to 15 pm

The CORPO venues in TOLEDO and CUENCA will remain closed during the 3rd phase of pandemic restrictions decreed by the health authorities.

Sunday

from 10 am
to 15 pm

The CORPO venues in TOLEDO and CUENCA will remain closed during the 3rd phase of pandemic restrictions decreed by the health authorities.