ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

Barcelona Artists' Soft Critique of Grandiose Art Discourses

exhibition · 2026-04-23

Three Barcelona-based artists—Borja Zabala, Antonio Ortega, and Lluis Alabern—employ irony, skepticism, and everyday materials to challenge inflated art-world rhetoric. Zabala's performance 'El rey de las fiestas' and installation 'Dominó' use critical irony. Ortega incorporates plants, animals, and objects into a domestic, quotidian practice aimed at reducing the scale of grand art discourses. Alabern creates light, punctual interventions such as 'Alfombra de pasta de dientes,' a toothpaste labyrinth. Their collective approach constitutes a 'soft critique' of grandiloquent speech.

Key facts

  • Borja Zabala presented performance 'El rey de las fiestas' and installation 'Dominó'.
  • Antonio Ortega uses plants, animals, and objects in a domestic, everyday artistic practice.
  • Ortega's work calls for reducing the dimensions of grand art discourses.
  • Lluis Alabern created 'Alfombra de pasta de dientes', a toothpaste labyrinth.
  • Alabern's interventions are light and punctual.
  • The three artists are from Barcelona.
  • Their work is characterized by irony and skepticism.
  • The critique is described as 'soft' or 'gentle'.

Entities

Artists

  • Borja Zabala
  • Antonio Ortega
  • Lluis Alabern

Locations

  • Barcelona
  • Spain

Sources