Untitled (1988-1990), by Doris Salcedo

Location: Room 44, Ground floor.

Colombia and its art scene are the stars of this year’s ARCOmadrid 2015. In conjunction with the fair and thanks to a loan from the Banco de la Republica de Colombia, the Museo Thyssen and the Colombian Embassy are presenting an iconic work by Doris Salcedo (born Bogotá, 1958).

The oeuvre of this leading international artist offers metaphors of violence and its anonymous victims. In Salcedo’s works everyday objects function as a testament to individuals who have disappeared, thus transforming art into a type of political critique and a space of memory. One example is Untitled, made from delicately folded white shirts that have been stiffened with plaster, piled up and inserted onto metal rods that stand up at different heights. Salcedo thus offers a symbolic sculpture which both moves the viewer and establishes a type of communication that is both physical and spiritual. Her interest in experimenting with objects and in giving them new meanings connects her work to that of artists in the Museum’s collection who were precursors in the use of found materials, such as Kurt Schwitters. Salcedo’s work can now be seen alongside theirs.