RUBEN SANTIAGOA Fire

A Fire, a housing unit. In the face of inclement weather, shelter, and the search for warmth. The element that originally denoted opulence and comfort, now represents only the value of the energy, perishable, combustible, that it contains. The element that protects property, that prevents access and safeguards privilege, dissolves into itself. We can open doors without permission. We must do it.

Ruben Santiago (Sarria, Galicia, 1974), through his work, critically examines the mechanisms by which collective memory is formed and reflects on how institutions regulate the granting of symbolic value. Strategically embracing long-term processes and ongoing methodologies, Ruben materializes his practice as an expanded experience that permeates every aspect of his daily life. Public presentations of his work become instruments of negotiation through which he seeks to challenge and analyze definitions of the real. Ruben Santiago creates installations, site-specific projects, online mechanisms, video works, objects, publications, and other cultural artifacts. His work and his approach to the processes of meaning production constitute one of the most unique and significant paths of his generation. He has exhibited his work in international institutions, galleries, and independent spaces since the late 1990s.

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