When we talk of ephemeral art we think of works that are produced at a certain time and place, therefore, we tend to identify them with performance or happening. Artistic events are a very interesting facet of the new contemporaneity which thrill artists. One wants to overcome the traditional vision of static art, embodied in tangible support, to transform it into an experience. Installation art responds to this same idea. It is more like a fixed sculpture, but it usually incorporates elements that add movement, image or sound to the piece, in addition to being designed to last a certain time. With these ingredients, installations make their way into the rooms of museums, galleries, cultural centres and even the urban space, where it is easier to access because its occupation is only temporary.

Dan Flavin, light installation “Supernatural Breakdancer”, Menil Collection, 1996

Installation art is a manifestation that began in the 50´s of the last century, although in recent decades it has gained unsuspected attention thanks to some gigantic interventions by world-known artists. Its purpose is linked to the goals of conceptual art, the paradigm of contemporary expression since its beginnings. For this reason, installations are usually designed for a specific space, they are made for a particular place so that the discourse they convey is understood. For this reason, too, they are difficult to move and reproduce, as they will always require adjustment to the new placement.

Anish Kapoor, “Shooting into the Corner II”, 2008-2009 © Photo: Dave Morgan

On the other hand, the installation, like other manifestations of ephemeral art, seeks interaction with the viewer. Thus, as we said, it is not a question of creating an expanded sculptural piece that occupies the exhibition surface, but of creating a peculiar work, thought to motivate dialogue, in which outside-the-art-world elements or contributions from other disciplines are often incorporated, such as video, sound, technology... The aim is to delve into that message to be transmitted.

Eugenio Ampudia, “Sostener el infinito en la palma de la mano”, Sala Alcalá 31, 2019

The definition seems broad, however, any contact with an installation makes us easily appreciate the difference with sculpture. The latter is thought from a more classical conception of a static and enduring object, no matter how novel the topic and aesthetics are. The installation is precisely the opposite: it seeks the momentary, the impact of the discourse based on the arrangement of tangible elements and conceptual connections that will later disappear. In this sense, it is linked to experimental art, a context in which many art movements were born that incorporate movement and concept in their essence.

Olafur Eliasson placed this installation made from Greenland icebergs pieces in different locations of London to raise awareness on global warming

The versatility of installation art is practically infinite. The current means allow these works to be given a previously unknown dimension, either by integrating aspects related to technique and programming that blur the edges between installation or technological art or by the use of materials that allow working on a different scale. Likewise, installation of the new millennium may seek a bigger impact than a discourse purpose, or, on the opposite, serve to channel many of the concerns that we have today as a society, something that is characteristic of contemporary art in its many manifestations.

Kaws, installation into Hong Kong harbour, Photo: PH Yang

What is clear is that the installation, and especially the oversized one, is trendy in today’s contemporary creation world. Some well-known artists trust in this discipline when they design their exhibitions, and for this, they seek the complicity of the great museums and exhibition rooms, or of the cities themselves. It is the best method to spread their message, and to achieve the intended impact, many times one has to attract the public's attention going big.

RAÍCES AFUERA. PERFORMANCE CYCLE X ART MADRID'25

Art Madrid celebrates twenty years of contemporary art from March 5 to 9, 2025, at the Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles. During Art Week, it becomes an exhibition platform for national and international galleries and artists. In this edition, with the aim of providing a space for artists working in the realm of performance art, the fair presents Raíces Afuera, a performance cycle that explores notions of belonging and the need for rootedness in a contemporary world marked by fragmentation, displacement, and disconnection. Positioned within the fair as a critical and reflective space, the project challenges the individual’s relationship with their environment, community, and sense of identity.

PERFORMANCE: EL PESO DE LA CIUDAD LO LLEVO CONMIGO. BY AGUSTINA PALAZZO

March 9 | 17:00h. Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles.

El peso de la ciudad lo lleco conmigo. Agustina Palazzo. Peformance documentacion. 2025.

The current urban landscape represents an environment saturated with symbols of modernity and technological “progress.” The television and radio antennas, which hover over rooftops, embody much more than their technical function. They emerge as markers of change, connecting generations to a global world, transforming urban life into a web of communication and entertainment.

This modification of the urban landscape has direct implications for the contemporary body, a body defined and altered through technology and its relationship with the environment. As Laura Barros Condés says in Habitar(se), “Technology has become an intrinsic part of individuals, largely through the body.”

Space itself is an organism that intervenes in the body. We experience an environment through the body, and inevitably, this relationship influences our way of connecting physically and psychologically, as well as the process of constructing identity. The body is defined and altered through its relationship with the environment.

The antennas, these inanimate objects that hover over the urban landscape, represent a powerful metaphor for an era saturated by technological mediation. Their abundant presence points to the paradox of connectivity that, while promising to unite us, fragments our attention and collective experience. As unnoticed monuments, they invite us to reflect on how technology redefines cities and our relationship with them.

El peso de la ciudad lo llevo conmigo seeks to make visible contemporary oppression—how industrialization, urbanization, and digitalization condition the construction of identity, stripping individuals of a vital connection and leaving an existential void in a body that inhabits the saturation of the urban landscape.

Radiorator II. Performance documentation. 2025. Agustina Palazzo.

ABOUT AGUSTINA PALAZZO

Agustina Palazzo (Córdoba, Argentina, 1992) is a multidisciplinary artist from Córdoba, Argentina. Based in Barcelona, her practice spans art, education, and cultural management within the context of the digital world and new technologies. Her work oscillates between the critical and the poetic, using emerging themes and technologies as creative tools in performance, sound design, and installation. Her artistic research is nourished by the relationship between communication, human behavior, and new technologies, creating experiences that question the boundaries of human behavior and the digital realm. She has participated in solo and group exhibitions, festivals, and residencies across Latin America and Europe. Some of her notable engagements include IMMERSIVA at Espronceda, Institute of Art and Culture (ES), Tsonami Sound Art (CHILE), Rake Community, art and research platform (UK), SONAR + D (ES), LLUM (ES), Teorema (ES), 220 Contemporary Culture (AR), Millesuoni (IT), Espai 19 (ES), among others.

Agustina Palazzo's work focuses on human behavior, desires, and misunderstandings, exploring the contradictions of the contemporary crowd caught between technological refinement and moral erosion in fragmented attention spans. It swings between the critical and the poetic, inspired by science fiction, utopia, and dystopia, but with an emotional sensitivity anchored in the present. Her practice moves across performance, installation, video, sound, and archive, using technology not only as a tool but as a symbol of a social and political condition.

Taking advantage of its poetic dimension, she blends digital and analog techniques with everyday objects, stretching their meanings. Sound and radio are recurring elements in her quest, but her language is expansive, crossing through the visual, performative, and sonic. Experimentation, process, and critical reflection are the core of her practice, inviting the viewer to question their relationship with the digital and the real.