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Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano’s "Lunar Ensemble for Uprising Seas(2023) is on view from 11 October 2024 to 12 January 2025 at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, MACBA.

The installation was first developed in 2023 as a co-commission between TBA21—Academy and Audemars Piguet Contemporary, and notably brings together both artists studios to work together on a large-scale commission.

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Inspired by Ay mi pescadito, a popular Spanish song for children about a young fish in search of belonging, this immersive work addresses concepts of cohesion and disharmony among species. Set within MACBA’s expansive three-floor atrium, the sculptures’ metallic skins reflect the sunlight onto the museum’s walls, ceilings, and floors, modifying the perception of the space over the day. Each sculpture doubles as a musical instrument, producing sounds from music boxes and other techniques. When played together, the music boxes and other instruments attempt the song’s “melody.” Although these sounds do not easily harmonise, the results mirror the complexity of creating perfect synchrony among species in the natural world.

The artwork was previously exhibited in Venice, Italy in 2023 at Ocean Space within the historic deconsecrated San Lorenzo Church, evoking possibilities of alternative future forms of life, transformation, and parenthood reimagined. 

"Lunar Ensemble for Uprising Seas" is an intimate ecosystem immersed in a larger and rotating context. It intends to bring together protest and kinship through the figure of symbiotic relationships between species. By deploying synchronous actions that channel movement and sound, performers and sculptures build up a collective body as a joyous manifestation of togetherness.

Petrit Halilaj and Álvaro Urbano

Artists

Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano. "Lunar Ensemble for Uprising Seas" will be on view at MACBA from 11 October 2024 to 12 January 2025

Address

Plaça dels Àngels, 1, 08001, Barcelona

Visiting Hours

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday 11 am – 7:30 pm

Saturday 10 am – 8 pm
Sunday 10 am – 3 pm
Closed on Tuesday

We are pleased to support the second iteration of Petrit Halilaj and Álvaro Urbano’s immersive installation, co-commissioned with TBA21–Academy, as it explores important themes of transformation and belonging. In supporting the artists’ exploration, Audemars Piguet demonstrates its belief that creativity helps us to see the world differently, leading us on a transformative journey of widening perspectives. Bringing "Lunar Ensemble for Uprising Seas" to MACBA will bring new perspectives and possibilities to this thought-provoking work.

Audrey Teichmann

Art Curator, Audemars Piguet Contemporary

Portrait of the artist.

Petrit Halilaj (b. 1986, Kostërrc-Skenderaj, Kosovo) and Álvaro Urbano (b. 1983, Madrid, Spain) are two visual artists based in Berlin. Halilaj’s practice emerges from his personal experiences, reflecting on individual and collective memories, freedoms, and cultural identities and Urbano’s work invites dialogue between different living entities to establish newly conceived environments. Mostly working individually, their common practice combines specific aspects of each artist’s interests and complements each other’s research. Their joint production reflects on the dichotomy between built environments and nature, and on the possibilities of negotiation between these two realities. Halilaj and Urbano jointly attended the artist residencies at MAK Residency, Los Angeles (2016-2017) and at Villa Romana, Florence (2014). Their collaborations have been exhibited in venues such as: Palacio de Cristal, Madrid; Pristina’s National Library, Autostrada Biennale; Brücke-Museum, Berlin; MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Mackey Apartments, Los Angeles; PAC-Pavilion of Contemporary Art, Milan; S.A.T.L.S., Basel; Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn; Villa Romana, Florence. They are both professors at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts de Paris, France. Their work is included in the Colección Jumex, Mexico City. The artists are jointly represented by ChertLüdde, in Berlin. Halilaj is represented by ChertLüdde, Berlin; kurimanzutto, Mexico City/New York; and Mennour, Paris. Urbano is represented by ChertLüdde, Berlin; and Travesía Cuatro, Mexico City/Guadalajara/Madrid.