A collection of stories and anecdotes, taken from public spaces or gardens, broadly related to seve­ ral of the artist’s research interests. Com conque­ rir l’espai (How to Conquer Space) has many layers to be explored, and many areas of study; the difficulty of feeling at home in a new environment, the connection between two separate worlds or pla­ ces, the revision of official narratives, a critical reflection on intimate spaces, among other themes.

Madaula’s point of departure is the bouquet of flowers that his father first collected during the pandemic lockdown, when one of his few reasons to leave home was to water the vegetables in an urban allotment.That bouquet became his only witness that there was life out there. With this project, Madaula intends to connect this point of interest to the first flowers that were grown in outer space (the orange Zinnias) inside a spaces­ hip, where plants and gardens will play a prominent role in alleviating the harshness of living in such a limited and claustrophobic space. Thus, Madaula attempts to explore how these two ideas connect and relate to Roeselare’s green spaces, the inhabitants who care for them, and their stories.

Students from the master’s degree course in Sound Art (UB) hosted by Josep Cerdà, Josep Manuel Berenguer and Antonio Alcalde, the master’s degree course in Research in Art and Design (Eina UAB), and the Creation Workshop course, part of the degree in Fine Arts (UB), participated in the Voices project (part of the curatorial research).

Watch "To plant a flying garden (2021)" from Martí Madaula Esquirol on Vimeo.

Bio

Martí Madaula Esquirol, holds a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Barcelona and a Master of Visual Arts from LUCA School of Arts in Ghent, Belgium. He is currently working on the publication of his master thesis, thanks to the Sala d'Art Jove 2020 Creation Grant and the support of the Centre d'Art La Panera. His latest projects have been presented in the art event Stronger than air, thinner than ice (2019) at the UGent Observatorium, and in the performance How to conquer space (2019) at Kolder-Gent, with Roos Nieboer.