Altar a la Risa (Altar for Laughter, 2021), a tent like temple which comprises over 100 painted unstretched canvases. The installation was presented in two different stages at an exhibition at Kühlhaus Berlin in July 2021 and in the exhibition ‘Mutual Matters – Goldrausch 2021,’ Fahrbereitschaft, Berlin, in November 2021. Visitors are invited to enter the space created by these colourful paintings which is filled with magic objects, pillows, ceramics, fruits, and the smell of pine. The altar, inspired in the tradition of El dia de la Cruz in Granada, is an invitation for self-care. Projected on the textiles inside the installation a video features fires and visions of what the artist calls ‘inner gardens’. Through erotic and nostalgic humor, the audio sound installations guide the viewer through different meditations over the course of an hour to help them access their own inner garden. The artist invites friends and artists to play with her throughout the process.

Altar a la Risa, Irene Fernández Arcas, acrylic, silk, and sublimation ink on textiles, wooden structure, 34 pieces of ceramics, stones, candles, fruits, flowers, traditional Andalusian copper, apple with scissors (pero cortado), rug, pillows, rope, pine oil, video, audio, laughter, 2021.

I made three photoshootings to capture different moments of the process and different details. Those photoshootings are dialogues and ensambles and new versions of the artworks themselves, and it is throught it we created new artworks together 

Photography: Lukas Städler