As part of EUROPALIA ESPAÑA, the CID is keen to welcome internationally renowned architect and designer Patricia Urquiola. Born in Oviedo in 1961, she studied architecture at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. She completed her studies at the Politecnico de Milan, where she was taught by Achille Castiglioni. This meant that as her career continued, she was able to learn from Italy’s grand masters, working in particular with Vico Magistretti. She set up her own studio in 2001. It now has around a hundred employees, working in the fields of product design, interior design and architecture. Her client list is as impressive as it is eclectic, demonstrating the scope of her influence in this field. Her furniture, objects, accessories, textiles and ceramics stand out thanks to the approach she takes to materials, transforming them with colours and patterns. The exhibition at the Grand-Hornu predominantly focuses on Studio Patricia Urquiola’s research over the last five years. At a time when climate change and artificial intelligence are gradually shaking up some areas of the creative landscape, the exhibition Patricia Urquiola. Meta-morphosa raises questions about our own relationship with change, with how our world, matter and our perception of beauty is evolving... The outcome is a brand new aesthetic, a real formal and cultural mutation.
A mercurial, elusive character, Patricia Urquiola slips effortlessly into this environment, shaped by occasionally opposing currents. Her world is so packed with colours, smells and sounds, blending into a synesthetic experience, that you can expect to see some very strange figures emerging from her portfolio: a fantastical being, an angel, a saint or some other indeterminate figure. A colourful, optimistic exhibition, combining objects - some of them functional, some of them less so - and blossoming research projects focusing on innovative materials.
