Decode and recode the landscape The expanded sculpture by Ibon Aranberri

The work of Ibon Aranberri focus on uses and abuses of the territory in recent history by those in power. His videos, actions in the landscape, documents and photographs are at the intersection of archival practice, documentary records and land art interventions. In 2003, Aranberri blocked the entrance to a cave in the Guipúzcoan mountains that is of great scientific value: the prehistoric Iritegi cave. The artist left a narrow entrance for the colony of endangered bats that live in the grotto, but he vetoed people’s access to a natural space that is highly significant to the collective imaginary of the Basque Country. The action was a work of Land Art, which was not based on a local-level attempt to preserve the landscape, but rather sought to recodify it and create new communal meanings.