The renowned International Architecture and Design Festival of Logroño, Concéntrico, will hold its sixth edition—rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic—from September 3 to 6, 2020. The festival invites reflection on 'the urban' and the contemporary city.
This year, the festival features 14 urban installations across the city of Logroño. These works are designed by architecture and design teams from various countries—including Germany, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, France, Poland, Finland, Romania, and Spain—selected annually through an open competition or invitation.
To extend the festival's presence, several installations from this edition will be exhibited in the gardens of the Ministry of Development from September 18 to 30, 2020. Key installations include:
Kreuzweg by Gregor Schneider
In Kreuzweg (The Way of the Cross), Gregor Schneider constructs a very dark passage in the shape of a black cross. The cross-shaped structure features four openings—one at each end—through which visitors can enter and exit. The structure's cross shape can only be perceived from an aerial viewpoint, like a god's-eye view. The work is an event that combines the sensory deprivation associated with lifelessness with the theatrical effects of resurrection.
Patio de Reflexiones by Storey Studio
The enclosure of natural space to create a garden can be traced back to 10,000 BCE, with Eden idealized as the very first garden in Western culture. Set within an era defined by acceleration and technological overstimulation, Patio de Reflexiones (Courtyard of Reflections) proposes a contemplation of nature's sensory power in the built environment. A wall of natural reeds conceals a vibrant interior, revealed only through framed views from the outside. As visitors walk through the river reeds, multiple paths lead to a garden of lavender, thyme, rosemary, and sage, opening up an intimate space for contemplation.
Estatua ecuestre by Iza Rutkowska
Since time immemorial, the most common art object in public space has been the equestrian statue—the figure of a man on horseback. It symbolically commemorated won battles and wars, or simply glorified powerful leaders. In the collective consciousness, it has always stood as the representation of a man on a horse.
How can we change the meaning of the equestrian statue in 2020 when we allow a woman to design it?
Sticks & Stones by Anna & Eugeni Bach
The appearance of a strange artifact—a wooden wall that seemingly blocks the way—serves as an invitation for visitors to experience passing through the structure, which has been shifted to one side to allow crossing. Once there, a curtain must be pulled aside to enter, and suddenly, the space left behind is completely transformed. Following this experience, both spaces—stone and textile, heavy and light, vaulted and catenary, severe and festive, stereotomic and tectonic—overlap, allowing visitors to understand the underground passage through both its core purpose and its opposite.
As is tradition, the urban installations are accompanied by various exhibitions and discussions reflecting on the cities of today and tomorrow. Highlights of this edition include the “Pavilion of Reverberations” by Centrala and Fundacja Bęc Zmiana—an exhibition that originated in the Polish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale—and an exhibition showcasing the work of Finnish designer Tuomas Kuure.
This article was written by Danae Santibañez. The translation is powered by AI.
