Maider López
'Off_Sight' Public announcement, 7th September 2008
'Off_Sight' Public announcement, 7th September 2008
'Off_Sight' Public announcement, 7th September 2008
'Off_Sight' Public announcement, 7th September 2008
'Off_Sight' Public announcement, 7th September 2008
'Off_Sight' Public announcement, 7th September 2008
Off_Sight
Maider López, an internationally respected Spanish artist, enjoys interrupting assumptions (remove extra space) by creating interventions in spaces, situations and architecture. Her works often involve the active participation of the viewer, and can take the unprepared by surprise as an aspect of a familiar space is highlighted or altered.López’s project operates over two Biennial sites. Signs denoting the location of ‘functional’ aspects of the Christchurch Art Gallery are scattered throughout the entire Gallery building, as López puts the microscope to these seemingly insignificant features. From visitor number counters to switch locks, environmental condition monitors to power plugs, the minor details of the pure gallery spaces are suddenly brought to the fore, drawing our attention to the way these aspects disappear and become invisible visual noise as they quietly maintain the processes necessarily for the buildings’ operation.
López’s interest in highlighting and interrupting assumptions by intervening directly in spaces is further explored in an outdoor project developed on Colombo Street. Here she captures a rare moment on the street when the advertising and signage disappear, changing its typical function as a commercial strip through selective positioning of volunteers and objects. Billboards and posters in the area reflect the moment as captured in photographs. The result is fun and colourful and draws attention to the profusion of marketing text and images that exist in the urban environment.
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Born 1975 in San Sebastián-Donostia, Spain
Lives and works in San Sebastián-Donostia, Spain
Maider López has exhibited extensively throughout Spain and Europe. After graduating with a Masters from Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, UK in 1999, López's interest in interrupting norms in space and architecture became more matured and set the standard for her future work.
Noted installations include AdosAdos (Semidetached), Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain, 2007; Ataskoa (traffic jam), ARTIUM, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, 2005; the "51st Venice Biennale"; 2005; and Playa, Galería Distrito Cu4tro, Madrid, Spain (2006). Typical of López's style, all of these works needed the participation of viewers for the project to be a success.
López is represented by Galería Distrito Cu4tro, Madrid, Spain.