Terremoto, 1994-2016
Terremoto (Earthquake) is one of Tere Recarens’ most significant works. As with all the artist’s production, irony, playfulness, surprise, absurdity and the challenge of transgressing the norm accompany this installation.
In this large-format installation, interaction and perplexity force the viewer to take sides. ‘I have built an unstable floor with wooden boards. On it, I have located shelves and various pieces of furniture, on top of which I have placed a large number of fragile objects. When visitors walk on the boards, everything trembles. Some are afraid of breaking the objects, while others enjoy the unexpected freedom,’ the artist explains. Created in 1994 and presented for the first time in Marseille that same year, the work was remade in 2016 for inclusion in MACBA’s group exhibition, Punk. Its Traces in Contemporary Art. On this occasion, it was the artist herself who set about breaking objects by running on the boards. She also wrote in her notes: ‘A 12-minute earthquake, 7.0 on the Richter scale. Luckily, there were no injuries.’
Beyond the direct interpellation of the viewers, who were obliged to position themselves in front of the artwork and within the context of exhibition, the installation mirrored the unstable nature of the surrounding world. The artist puts us in the position of the passerby, a real and at the same time metaphorical representation of our relationship with the world.
Technical details
- Original title:
- Terremoto
- Registration number:
- 5500
- Artist:
- Recarens, Tere
- Date created:
- 1994-2016
- Date acquired:
- 2017
- Fonds:
- MACBA Collection. Government of Catalonia long-term loan
- Object type:
- Installation
- Media:
- Site-specific installation
- Dimensions:
- Variable dimensions
- Edition number:
- Ed. 2/3 + 1 P.A.
- Credits:
- MACBA Collection. Government of Catalonia long-term loan. National Collection of Contemporary Art
- Copyright:
- © Tere Recarens
- It has accessibility resources:
- No
The MACBA Collection features Catalan, Spanish and international art and, although it includes works from the 1920s onwards, its primary focus is on the period between the 1960s and the present.
For more information on the work or the artist, please consult MACBA's Library. To request a loan of the work, please write to colleccio [at] macba.cat.
If you need a high resolution image of the work, you must submit an image loan request.
