Vaciada: Quietud, Sol y Sombra

When a social and cultural crisis happens so notably slow the effect can seem imperceivable. Around 2019, attention to the “Emptied Spain” was sprung upon by social activist groups in depopulating regions of the rural countryside. Various groups were formed to confront the specter of ghost towns, abandonment, and structural aging. A demographic shift had been on course since the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939. In the past few years “La España Vaciada” has become a national conversation and a point of contention in issues ranging from declining infrastructure, environmental catastrophe and the use of natural resources. With the purpose of connecting this subject to the intricate social fabric that bonds the whole of Spain the artist visited over thirty so-called emptied towns. Starting from Madrid and drawing an approximate 200 km radius around the city, Sanchez-Burr documented areas that confirmed the rural decline. The presence of serene and beautiful landscapes parallel to the stillness of longstanding and history drenched rural edification leaves a strong impression. The change that will overtake the countryside is unclear, the artist hopes that memory, history and the fundamental cultural resonance of these regions can exist in the Spanish present and future, without doubt these regions will form a new chapter in the coming years.

The exhibit is a combination of digital collage, immersive video, sound and mixed media.