About

The Santa Clara Project and Apsara Studio are thrilled to share the launch of ‘Marés’, an annual site-responsive ‘Open Studio’ moment, which for its inaugural year, brings to Sa Ilustrada - a historic townhouse in the centre of Mahón, Menorca - a group of emerging artists from Spain and beyond. Taking its name from a stone intrinsic to the Balearic Island (marés), the revolving showcase plays on the Spanish word for ‘Seas’ (mares). Set in a site that was originally a captain’s home, this first iteration reflects on the multi-layered existence of the island and its passing between hands. From the Romans to the British, Berbers and Byzantines, to French and Spanish - there’s been changes of language and cultures, each impacting, shifting, contributing and collectively transforming the island. ‘Marés’ equally calls on Menorca’s connection to the Mediterranean; casting the sea as a body of water that unites rather than divides, the open studio creates dialogues between local to global artistic talent, while its temporary duration takes its cues from the tides, how they emerge for a while, only to retreat, and repeat.  

Set across three floors and a courtyard, the open studio weaves a storyline between antiquity and modernity. In the vaulted basement, a selection of works nod to the prehistoric origins of the island, in particular the Tayalotic culture. Known for its Cyclopean construction, or the use of large unmortared marés stones, exhibited artists speak to notions of deep time, sediment, and ancestral architecture. On the ground floor, across the ornate reception rooms and stairwell, a conversation is struck with the space’s past use as one of living, but equally the site’s collection of ancient books dating back to the 1600s. Following storylines from its recent histories over the last 300 years, the exhibited works convey notions of dwelling, from actual to imagined spaces. Up the ascending staircase and on the first floor, we enter into considerations of the future, in particular the known unknown. In conversation with the highly ornate ceilings, the works extend beyond representation and verge on the abstraction of sentiment; the realm of possibilities and their articulation.

In the courtyard, ‘Marés’ invites people to be. The open air space is conceived as one of sharing, whether it be a coffee or a break from the sun or a conversation. Open every evening  with active programming throughout the open studio’s duration, it places community and conversation at the beating heart of this moment.