Cristina Iglesias on Mediterranean dialogue and immersive sculpture

Cristina Iglesias (b. 1956, Donostia-San Sebastián) has built a sculptural universe over four decades, merging architecture, literature, psychology, mechanics, and nature into immersive environments. She is the most internationally recognized Spanish female artist, winner of the Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas and the Royal Academy of Arts Architecture Prize. Invited by Rashid Johnson to participate in 'Directionless', Iglesias proposed artists from Mediterranean-related backgrounds: Latifa Echakhch, Sigalit Landau, Mona Hatoum, Yto Barrada, Ali Cherri, and Rayyane Tabet. She views the Mediterranean as a liquid space of communication, not a border. The exhibition addresses contemporary disorientation, with artists weaving connections between memory and an uncertain present. Reflecting on her recent show at La Pedrera, Iglesias notes a deep engagement with Gaudí's work, creating routes, passages, wells, and courtyards. She is increasingly interested in how space is inhabited and perception built through fragments, thresholds, and transitions.