Memelismos (Memelisms) employs sculpture and formalism to explore issues linked to the popular imaginary in an attempt to use objects to create an archive of memories.

Juanli Carrión will work with residents of Madrid, inviting them to build a collaborative sculpture that represents the living memory of the city based on their recollections. To this end, the artist has extended an open invitation to donate items associated with local and/or beloved individuals and to recount stories relating to Madrid and to Cibeles Palace, which is the former headquarters of Correos, Spain's postal service, and a landmark in the city. Carrión sets out to stage an action revolving around the affections and memories of others, based on accounts and stories associated with objects. Many of them have, at times, been forgotten, and they are reactivated –always replete with meanings– in this project.

The items donated will be transformed and used to create a sculpture for the artist’s Memelisms series by means of a set of abstract exercises which, in turn, will bring together the participants’ memories, giving their recollections a voice and form. These items will be collaboratively installed in CentroCentro, where participants will play an active role via a process that will centre around dialogues about memory, formal aspects of works and space. The sculpture aims to give visibility to people's experiences to bring us closer to the values of the city, its inhabitants and their memories.

This project is part of Experiencias compartidas. Aprendizaje colectivo (Shared Experiences: Collective Learning), an annual series associated with the collective learning line of activity, which features a number of projects that eventually become exhibitions, in which various artists work with groups, associations and people to develop their ideas.

Curator: Ana García Alarcón

Juanli Carrion (Yecla, Spain, 1982) lives and works in New York. His projects are an aesthetic response to the social, political and cultural realities of the places where they are undertaken, bringing together people, groups, actions, information, objects, food, materials and geography to reconstruct “the landscape” created by their inherent conflicts. In 2017 Carrión founded OSS Project Inc, a non-profit organisation stemming from his series of public interventions in the form of geopolitical gardens, called Outer Seed Shadow, which has been addressing conflicts in forgotten social ecosystems since 2014. OSS has been commissioned by NYC Parks, NYCHA, La Nau, La Conservera Contemporary Art Centre and Kulturföreningen Triennal, among others. In 2018 OSS commissioned two artists from New York to develop its two most recent gardens, which were built in the Bronx and Manhattan. Carrion's work has been exhibited internationally in centres such as the Art Institute of Chicago, Art in General, Abrons Arts Center, Y Gallery, Friedman Benda Gallery, BRIC and BAM in the USA; MUSAC, ARTIUM Centre-Museum of Contemporary Art, La Casa Encendida, Tabacalera, La Panera Art Centre, Parraga Centre and Rosa Santos Gallery in Spain; the Ex-Teresa Museum, San Luis Potosi Arts Centre and MUPO in Mexico; the National Museum of Art in Trinidad & Tobago; Gabriela Mistral Gallery in Chile; the Lima Museum of Contemporary Art in Peru and the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi, among others. He has undertaken residencies in various places, including the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) Workspace (2012) & Process Space (2015) and ISCP (2011-12) in New York, Oaxaca Graphic Arts Institute (2005) and Centro ADM (2012) in Mexico, Kuona Trust in Kenya (2006), Espaço Fonte in Brazil (2014) and Addaya Contemporary Art Centre in Spain (2018). He has also received several awards and grants, such as the “Generaciones” Award (2012), “Iniciarte” grants (2009 and 2010), grants from the Spanish Ministry of Culture (2010 and 2013), a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts in New York (2014), a grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council (2016) and the NYC Council Discretionary Funds Award (2017 & 2018), among others.