104 VAV by elii

The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) deploys its activity in more than 30 countries through its Technical Cooperation Offices, Cultural Centres and Training Centres. These nodes serve as the bases from where to tackle globalisation by implementing various work programmes. In short, the AECID is a network, a matrix to connect and interact with various contexts of the world.

Architect: elii - Uriel Fogué, Eva Gil, Carlos Palacios
Location: Pabellón 7, Recinto Ferial IFEMA, Madrid, Spain
Year: 2018
Surface: 12.00 m2
Project-coordinating architects: Ana López, Lucía Fernández
Team: Laura Barros, Telmo Sagartzazu 
Assembly: Scnik
Promoters: Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo AECID en la Feria ARCO
Photography: ImagenSubliminal (Miguel de Guzmán + Rocío Romero)

Project description: The AECID space in the ARCO 2018 International Contemporary Art Fair is another node in this network, so its stand in this edition of ARCO transcends its physical boundaries and becomes a link to other geographies, other cultures, other scales, other temporalities, other languages, other technologies. VAV is an infinite surface, an opening that connects the circuits of Contemporary Art and the cross-border matrix of the AECID. It is an effort to understand ARt and COoperation from experience.

Visitors to the fair will discover that one of its main corridors has no end: eerie infinite depths framed by abstract geometries invite visitors into a new dimension. On the other side lies an indoor space, a quiet haven away from the bustle of the fair, with a series of images and videos floating on one of the walls. These videos and images are zooms into the network: a collection of snapshots of the various social, cultural and artistic activities that the AECID performs throughout the world. Little by little, the visitors’ eyes grow accustomed to the dimness and notice that the ceiling and walls fold upon themselves to frame the images and form a bench. After a rest, it is time to return to ‘the other dimension’ to proceed with the visit.

> 33sqm apartment in Madrid by Elii
> Taoyuan Museum of Art by MVRDV