Bene Bergado at Azkuna Zentroa

The artist proposes the infinitive “downturn” in light of the unbounded exponential growth of production and consumption in today’s society, caused by fossil fuels. This call for action runs through the exhibition curated by the artist Juan Luis Moraza. “A downturn will be inevitable, whether as an option or as a result of the collapse to which we are doomed”, the artist cautions.

The installations and sculptures in the exhibition hold a conversation with the need for a deceleration through the awareness of limits in order to adapt ourselves to a near future of low energy and unavoidable changes in life. As a large diagram which interweaves different codes and systems, “Decrecer” shows the dynamic strain between art and what it is all about, i.e. its artistic processes and more explicit themes, as explained by the curator.

Thus, the installation “Scorched Earth”, which consists of an electrical tower fragmented into four pieces turned into shelters or habitats, stands out. Likewise, focus is placed on the installation “Generator”, which “in the form of works by the artist created from the 1990s to date, piled up in a warehouse, it operates as a battery that generates the intensity of a work whose wealth and complexity engages us to an awareness of what is real”, as explained by the curator.