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Claudia Pagès

Aljubs Aljibes, 2024

Installation view: Manifesta, Barcelona Photo: Pol Masip0
Collection
Claudia Pagès
Commissions & Productions

Claudia Pagès

Aljubs Aljibes, 2024

Single-channel video, color, sound

14 min 058 sec

Commissioned by Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana with the support of Ammodo and Index – The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation, with the collaboration of MACBA, IVAM, La Caldera, and Hangar

TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection

 

Aljubs Aljibes delves into the intricate dynamics of urban transformation, linguistic evolution, and the infrastructures that sustain collective life. The title, drawn from the Catalan and Spanish terms for water cisterns, engages with the histories and materialities of water storage and distribution systems deeply embedded in societal and environmental narratives.

 

In Aljubs Aljibes, Pagès intertwines these utilitarian architectures with the fluidity of language, reflecting on how economic and cultural forces shape and reshape public and private spaces. The work employs a multidisciplinary approach, integrating video, text, and performance to interrogate the commodification of essential resources and the shifting boundaries of community. Through this lens, the cistern becomes a metaphor for both containment and flow, mirroring the tensions between preservation and exploitation.

 

Pagès’s poetic and critical inquiry extends to the vernacular languages and oral traditions associated with these water infrastructures. The piece captures the rhythms of labor, trade, and storytelling, situating them within broader systems of power and resistance. In doing so, Aljubs Aljibes resonates with the urgent discourse around sustainability and the equitable distribution of resources, particularly in the context of global water crises.

RELATED PROGRAM
Clear, Lucid, and Awake | Public Program Art Sonje Centre, Seoul
Clear, Lucid, and Awake - Spanish Artists from the TBA21 Collection Exhibition at Art Sonje Center, Seoul
Artists
Claudia Pagès