Bio
Irene Aldazabal (Argentina, 1993) is an artist and practice-based researcher, currently based in Scotland where she is pursuing a PhD in Arts at the University of Edinburgh supported by the ECA PhD Scholarship.
Living sculptures, fragile assemblages and transient installations are the main modalities of her work. With a particular emphasis on materiality, temporality and their transformative aspects, Irene co-creates across disciplinary and species boundaries and explores the notions of coexistence, embodiment and impermanence.
Her artistic practice is rooted to land and is intertwined with the place where she grew up: the Andean Patagonia. Cohabiting with territories, paying close attention to what is latent and transpiring in our collective surroundings, she investigates and speculates about possible ways of relating to and within an environment shared with others.
Irene holds a Master in Arts & Humanities from University of Dundee (UK); and a Teaching and Bachelor degree, with a double major in Sculpture and Printmaking, from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (Argentina). She has shown her work internationally in Europe and South America through exhibitions, talks and publications.
CV
SOLO EXHIBITIONS ● ‘To remain and be transformed, Agricultural and Forestal Sciences College (UNLP), La Plata, Argentina, 2018. ● ‘Nature and body’, National University of Comahue, Bariloche, Argentina, 2018. ● ‘Sproutings, landscapes in process’, ANSIA Gallery, La Plata, Argentina, 2017. COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS ● 'Fungaria', Sala Chonek Museo de la Patagonia, Semana del Hongo Bariloche, Argentina, 2024. ● 'Hidden Door' festival, Edinburgh, UK, 2023. ● 'L'esspill de la Natura', Valencia Botanical Garden, Spain, 2023. ● ‘Earthly Bodies, Subterranean Rhythms’ at the ‘Masters Show’, DJCAD, Dundee University, 2022. ● ‘Dwelling in Extremis’, Dalhousie Building, Dundee, Scotland, 2022. ● ‘Encounters’, with the support of the program Cultura Solidaria of the National Ministry of Culture, Junta Vecinal Llao Llao, Bariloche, Argentina, 2021. ● ‘Argentinian Botanical Art’, Scientific and Naturalistic Illustration exhibition, Argentina, 2020. ● ‘Mutable Spaces, Ephemeral Memories’, Simbiotica Art Collective, SUBITA Gallery, La Plata, Argentina, 2019. Selected and supported by PAR Program (see ‘Awards’). ● ‘New optics: the young platense visual arts scene’, Municipal Cultural Centre Islas Malvinas, La Plata, Argentina, 2019. ● ‘How to inhabit a paper’, collective collage exhibition, ANSIA Gallery, La Plata, Argentina, 2017. ● ‘Surroundings’, Ciclos Arte Unión, La Compostera, La Plata, Argentina, 2017. ● ‘Presión MX43 # fronteras’, México, 2016. ● ‘Entangled’, collective exhibition of Printmaking and Sculpture, Casa Enredadera, La Plata, Argentina, 2015. TALKS ● ‘Fungi Assemblages: an artistic research’, Semana del Hongo Bariloche, Argentina, 2024. ● Artist Talk, Dundee Art Society, 2024. ● ‘Earthly Bodies, Subterranean Rhythms: Living Sculptures as Interspecies Assemblages’, Multispecies Architectures Postgraduate Symposium, University of Dundee, 2022. ● ‘To Remain and be Transformed: Reflections on Time and Organic Materiality’, 100°C Hauntology, Turmoil, Change Postgraduate Symposium, University of Dundee, 2021. ● ‘The Natural Reimagined, Artistic Production Possibilities around Nature’, Simbiótica Art Collective at the MACLA Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Latinoamericano de La Plata, Argentina, 2018. PUBLICATIONS ● Aldazabal, I. (2023). Assemblages as Ecologies: Sculptural Collaborations with Subterranean Bodies. Edinburgh Architecture Research, 38 (1), 61–79. https://doi.org/10.2218/ear.2023.8918 ● Aldazabal, I. (2022). Offering: to die well in coexistence. Post(s), 8, 162–173. https://doi.org/10.18272/posts.v8i8.2658 AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS ● ECA PhD Scholarship, Edinburgh University, 2024-2027. ● The Duncan of Jordanstone Masters Prize for Art and Humanities, (best academic performance over the course of the Masters year), University of Dundee, 2022. ● Global Excellence Scholarship (Postgraduate scholarship for the Master of Fine Arts and Humanities), Dundee University, 2021. ● PAR Award ‘Support Program for Artistic and Cultural productions’, Arts and Culture Secretary, National University of La Plata, 2019. ● Distinguished Graduate Award (Highest academic average of the course ‘Licenciatura en Artes Plásticas con Orientación en Escultura’), School of Fine Arts, National University of La Plata, 2018.