Chronicles of a Fountain
an exhibition by Irene Fernández Arcas
Berlin Art Week 2023
12.09 - 23.09. 2023

By Julianne Cordray

The habitat that Irene Fernández Arcas gives shape to in Chronicles of a Fountain at Mitte Garten is one of water, airiness and light – elements essential to life. The titular fountain – itself a life-giving, cyclical entity – is a continuation, a point of departure and a central motif, linking the history of place to the inner currents that nurture our present and illuminate the paths that lead us forward. 

Taking up the threads of her ongoing research and engagement with the metaphorical space of the “inner fountain” – as well as associated themes of spirituality, healing, care, community, and ritual – Fernández Arcas approaches the garden’s central fountain as a point of connection with the genius loci: the spirit of a place. Not just an architectural fixture, but a figure with its own stories to tell and experiences to share. 

Here, the fountain’s waters continuously flow out in broad streams like whispers from the open mouths of snake-like spouts. The image of the snake, in fact, proves to be a fitting one, and one that recurs throughout the exhibition: it is commonly associated with the genius loci figure and the role of guardian of the house. At Mitte Garten — which has functioned as a local meeting place in different forms for over a century — the fountain also comes to represent something else: over the course of her research, Fernández Arcas discovered that the fountain is a transplant here, originally from France. The fountain, then, becomes an emblem of relocation, of the experience of inhabiting and situating ourselves someplace else. 

Through exchanges and impressions collected around the fountain during Fernández Arcas’ residency on site this summer, such forms, characters, and senses of place have been enlivened. Her research and the conversations that were carried out in different forms, with and between the fountain and the inhabitants and visitors in Mitte Garten, are part of both the preparation and presentation of the works in the exhibition. Traces and references to the process remain visible, as an expression of time and an accumulation of knowledge, encounters, and stories. 

Hanging loosely from the walls and ceiling of the space, Fernández Arcas’ works weave statements, reflections, emotions and sensations together in exuberant choreographies of color and line. Through a group of vibrant paintings of varying sizes, and two large-scale textile collages composed of repurposed clothing from H&M’s recycling bins, a kind of altar to the genius loci is assembled – its material reflecting its themes of renewal and care. Transmuted in this way to flowing, free-hanging textiles flooded with jovial blue and comprising loose, fluid lines, the labyrinthine installation prompts us to move through and activate the space – to be immersed in its calm. Like water, it acts as a connective element between us, our bodies, the environment, and its history. 

What Fernández Arcas presents us with here is an invitation, an offering, to let time slow to the pace of our own internal rhythms – to listen to its echoes, sense its textures, follow its colors, and inhabit it fully.