The group exhibition Concrete was first shown in 2014 at Monash University Museum of Art, MUMA (Melbourne, Australia). Through the work of sixteen artists, it set out to reflect, as part of the First World War commemorations, on issues such as memory, loss, destruction and trauma. The international artists who took part included Carlos Irijalba with Mareas Altas, a reflection on the bombing of Guernica in 1937.
In 2015, Monash University Museum of Art is presenting the exhibition in Istanbul during the cultural festival that is part of the Australia in Turkey 2015 events. It has been organised to coincide with Istanbul Biennial so that it can be integrated into the programmes aimed at the international visual arts community.
The work Irijalba is showing in the exhibition consists of four wooden trays containing samples from the subsoil of Guernica and three large photographs of the place from which they were collected. The project was very well received by Australian audiences and will be featured again in the exhibition in Istanbul with the support of AC/E through the PICE programme.
Carlos Irijalbe enjoyed a residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam from 2013 to 2014. A graduate of the University of the Basque Country and the UDK in Berlin, he was awarded the Guggenheim Bilbao photography grant in 2003 and the Marcelino Botín arts grant in 2007/08. He also received the first prize in the Purificación García photography competition and the PHotoEspaña newcomer award, among others. Irijalba has shown his work in galleries, art institutions and museums all over the world, including the CCCB Barcelona, the Herzliya Israel Museum and the Yokohama Art Centre and LMCC in New York.
