By
De Benito, Álvaro
REFLECTION ON THE RESIDUAL IN AGUIRRE AND DELPIN IN MADRID
Inventory of Fragile Materials is the title of the exhibition by Rocío Aguirre (Concepción, Chile, 1989) and Camilo Delpin (Concepción, Chile, 1989), presented at Spolia Haus until mid-month. Organized in collaboration with the Chilean Embassy in Spain, the Chile-Spain Foundation, and PHotoESPAÑA, the exhibition brings together two projects that, while distinct in their visual idioms, converge conceptually in their shared investigation of the residual.
September 01, 2025
Here, the residual is elevated into a gesture of resistance and a space for reflection. Aguirre and Delpin—linked not only by nationality but also by generation and artistic formation—revisit the memory of objects and narratives, weaving them into broader meditations on democracy and economic liberalism.
Aguirre’s work offers a visual meditation that connects everyday detritus with the mechanisms of industrial mass production. Through sun-exposed cyanotypes, she materializes objects, food remnants, supermarket purchases, and packaging, transfiguring them into symbols and symptoms of humanity’s entanglement with the logics of consumerism.
Delpin’s series unfolds in two movements, beginning with the chemical process of capturing light as it reflects upon liquid surfaces. This fragile gesture allows light to exist only within the instant of its photographic suspension, underscoring the ephemerality of representation. The resulting images then serve as conceptual matter for a second stage, in which the human body emerges as a surface emptied of memory.
Inventory of Fragile Materials remains on view through September 14 at Spolia Haus, Arganzuela 11, Madrid (Spain).
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