Bailad, bailad, malditos. Carlos Aires

As part of the Abierto x Obras programme, this site-specific exhibition by the artist Carlos Aires is on display in Nave 0 at Matadero Madrid from 11 September to 24 January. The artist encourages members of the public to step onto a dance floor within a braced space – an installation that functions as a sculptural environment through which they will experience emotions ranging from euphoria to unease. The exhibition features over a hundred props and around twenty screens in what used to be the municipal abattoir’s cold store. The visible scars left by a previous fire on this burnt-out space, as well as the memory of that violence, have served as the starting point for the artist’s installation. Ruins, darkness and euphoria merge in a sensory piece that draws the visitor into a forest of metal populated by mysterious figures who guide them through its unsettling soundscape. Dance and unease, night and euphoria go hand in hand in this piece, which marks his first solo exhibition at a public institution in Madrid.