Past Exhibition

Cristina Iglesias: Landscape and Memory

June 1 – December 4, 2022

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Past Exhibition

Cristina Iglesias: Landscape and Memory

June 1 – December 4, 2022

Play Audio Tour

On June 1, Spanish artist Cristina Iglesias unearthed the forgotten terrains and geographic history of Madison Square Park in a newly commissioned public art installation, her first major temporary public art project in the United States.

Landscape and Memory places five bronze sculptural pools, gently flowing with water arriving in different sequences, into the park’s Oval Lawn, harkening back to when the Cedar Creek—now buried underground—coursed across the land where the park stands today. Building on Iglesias’ practice of unearthing the forgotten and excavating natural history, Landscape and Memory resurfaces in the imaginations of contemporary viewers the now-invisible force of this ancient waterway. The installation will be on view from June 1 through December 4, 2022.

“Cristina Iglesias is renowned for sculpture and installation that engage closely with the spatial, cultural, and historical qualities of the spaces where they’re sited. With Landscape and Memory, Iglesias brings a new level of exploration to our commissioning program, creating sculptural cracks in the lawn that summon an unseen element of the park’s natural history,” said Brooke Kamin Rapaport, Deputy Director and Martin Friedman Chief Curator of Madison Square Park Conservancy. “Visitors who encounter the work will do so almost as archaeologists witnessing a living artifact from a centuries-old New York City, untouched by the present-day urban landscape.”

About the artist

Cristina Iglesias (Spanish, b. 1956) was born in San Sebastián, Northern Spain. She studied Chemical Sciences at the University of the Basque Country (1976–1978), and Ceramics and Sculpture at the Chelsea College of Art in London (1980–1982). Her studio is in Madrid, Spain.

Iglesias’s work has been the subject of solo presentations at museums internationally, including Centro Botín, Santander, Spain (2018), Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid (2013), Ludwig Museum, Cologne (2006); Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (2003), and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1997).

She additionally has been commissioned to create major projects and installations at Bloomberg headquarters, London (2017); Fondaciòn Botin, Santander (2017); Tres Aguas at Toledo, Spain (2014); Mexican Foundation of Environmental Education, Baja, California (2010); Museo del Prado, Madrid (2007); and Royal Museum of Fine Art, Antwerp (2006). The Museum of Fine Arts Houston opened Iglesias’ major permanent outdoor commission, Inner Landscape (the lithosphere, the roots, the water) (2020) in front of the new Kinder Building and last summer she realized Hondalea (2021), transforming a lighthouse into a sculpture on Santa Clara Island in the Bay of Donostia, San Sebastián, Spain.

Iglesias represented Spain at the Venice Biennale (1986, 1993) and at the Biennale of Sydney (1990, 2012); at the Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (1995); at the Taipei Biennial (2003); at the SITE Santa Fe Biennial (2006) and at the Folkstone Triennal (2011).

She was granted a Fulbright scholarship to study at Pratt Institute (1988). She was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich (1995).

Read more about the artist
About the artist

Cristina Iglesias (Spanish, b. 1956) was born in San Sebastián, Northern Spain. She studied Chemical Sciences at the University of the Basque Country (1976–1978), and Ceramics and Sculpture at the Chelsea College of Art in London (1980–1982). Her studio is in Madrid, Spain.

Iglesias’s work has been the subject of solo presentations at museums internationally, including Centro Botín, Santander, Spain (2018), Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid (2013), Ludwig Museum, Cologne (2006); Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (2003), and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1997).

She additionally has been commissioned to create major projects and installations at Bloomberg headquarters, London (2017); Fondaciòn Botin, Santander (2017); Tres Aguas at Toledo, Spain (2014); Mexican Foundation of Environmental Education, Baja, California (2010); Museo del Prado, Madrid (2007); and Royal Museum of Fine Art, Antwerp (2006). The Museum of Fine Arts Houston opened Iglesias’ major permanent outdoor commission, Inner Landscape (the lithosphere, the roots, the water) (2020) in front of the new Kinder Building and last summer she realized Hondalea (2021), transforming a lighthouse into a sculpture on Santa Clara Island in the Bay of Donostia, San Sebastián, Spain.

Iglesias represented Spain at the Venice Biennale (1986, 1993) and at the Biennale of Sydney (1990, 2012); at the Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (1995); at the Taipei Biennial (2003); at the SITE Santa Fe Biennial (2006) and at the Folkstone Triennal (2011).

She was granted a Fulbright scholarship to study at Pratt Institute (1988). She was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich (1995).

Read more about the artist

About the artist

Cristina Iglesias (Spanish, b. 1956) was born in San Sebastián, Northern Spain. She studied Chemical Sciences at the University of the Basque Country (1976–1978), and Ceramics and Sculpture at the Chelsea College of Art in London (1980–1982). Her studio is in Madrid, Spain.

Iglesias’s work has been the subject of solo presentations at museums internationally, including Centro Botín, Santander, Spain (2018), Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid (2013), Ludwig Museum, Cologne (2006); Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (2003), and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1997).

She additionally has been commissioned to create major projects and installations at Bloomberg headquarters, London (2017); Fondaciòn Botin, Santander (2017); Tres Aguas at Toledo, Spain (2014); Mexican Foundation of Environmental Education, Baja, California (2010); Museo del Prado, Madrid (2007); and Royal Museum of Fine Art, Antwerp (2006). The Museum of Fine Arts Houston opened Iglesias’ major permanent outdoor commission, Inner Landscape (the lithosphere, the roots, the water) (2020) in front of the new Kinder Building and last summer she realized Hondalea (2021), transforming a lighthouse into a sculpture on Santa Clara Island in the Bay of Donostia, San Sebastián, Spain.

Iglesias represented Spain at the Venice Biennale (1986, 1993) and at the Biennale of Sydney (1990, 2012); at the Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (1995); at the Taipei Biennial (2003); at the SITE Santa Fe Biennial (2006) and at the Folkstone Triennal (2011).

She was granted a Fulbright scholarship to study at Pratt Institute (1988). She was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich (1995).

Read more about the artist
Exhibition Catalogue

Cristina Iglesias: Landscape and Memory

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Download PDF
Press Release

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Download PDF
Cristina Iglesias Press Release (Spanish Translation)

Cristina Iglesias Press Release (Spanish Translation)
About the artist

Cristina Iglesias (Spanish, b. 1956) was born in San Sebastián, Northern Spain. She studied Chemical Sciences at the University of the Basque Country (1976–1978), and Ceramics and Sculpture at the Chelsea College of Art in London (1980–1982). Her studio is in Madrid, Spain.

Iglesias’s work has been the subject of solo presentations at museums internationally, including Centro Botín, Santander, Spain (2018), Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid (2013), Ludwig Museum, Cologne (2006); Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (2003), and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1997).

She additionally has been commissioned to create major projects and installations at Bloomberg headquarters, London (2017); Fondaciòn Botin, Santander (2017); Tres Aguas at Toledo, Spain (2014); Mexican Foundation of Environmental Education, Baja, California (2010); Museo del Prado, Madrid (2007); and Royal Museum of Fine Art, Antwerp (2006). The Museum of Fine Arts Houston opened Iglesias’ major permanent outdoor commission, Inner Landscape (the lithosphere, the roots, the water) (2020) in front of the new Kinder Building and last summer she realized Hondalea (2021), transforming a lighthouse into a sculpture on Santa Clara Island in the Bay of Donostia, San Sebastián, Spain.

Iglesias represented Spain at the Venice Biennale (1986, 1993) and at the Biennale of Sydney (1990, 2012); at the Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (1995); at the Taipei Biennial (2003); at the SITE Santa Fe Biennial (2006) and at the Folkstone Triennal (2011).

She was granted a Fulbright scholarship to study at Pratt Institute (1988). She was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich (1995).

Read more about the artist

Image gallery

Exhibition Support

Landscape and Memory is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Leadership support for this exhibition is generously provided by Marian Goodman Gallery, New York/Paris and The Ruth Stanton Foundation. Major support for the exhibition is generously provided by Agnes Gund and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Substantial support is provided by Morris A. Hazan Family Foundation, The Malka Fund, and The Scintilla Foundation.

Major support for the art program is provided by Sasha C. Bass, Bunny and Charles Burson, Toby Devan Lewis, Ronald A. Pizzuti, Thornton Tomasetti, Tiffany & Co., Anonymous, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Substantial support is provided by Charina Endowment Fund, Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Sol LeWitt Fund for Artist Work, Madison Square Park Conservancy Art Council, Audrey and Danny Meyer, and von Rydingsvard-Greengard Foundation. Additional support is provided by 400 Park Avenue South, The Brown Foundation, Inc., of Houston, Grey Group, Lenore G. Tawney Foundation, Fern and Lenard Tessler, Ms. Barbara van Beuren and Mr. Stephen L. Glascock, and Anonymous.

Madison Square Park Conservancy is a public/private partnership with the New York City
Department of Parks & Recreation.

Cristina Iglesias: Landscape and Memory

Cristina Iglesias: Landscape and Memory

Cristina Iglesias: Landscape and Memory

Exhibition Support

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