Click here to access the route link on Google Maps
INTRODUCTION
Distance: 7.39 kilometers
Technical difficulty: Low
Route type: linear
On this urban route you can enjoy a variety of modern art sculptures that will undoubtedly surprise you.
From abstract pieces to figurative works, each sculpture has its own story and meaning.
Modern art created by some of the most influential contemporary artists internationally.
A fascinating tour that transforms the streets of our city into an open-air museum.
The route has been designed to be accessible and enjoyable, with strategic points where visitors can rest, reflect and enjoy the surroundings.
Each sculpture is accompanied by an information plaque that provides context about the work and the artist, enriching the educational and cultural experience.
_________________________
1. LIAM GILLICK. I can't answer that question—it's a matter of conscience.
Location: Plaza Mayor
Liam Gillick has created a simple yet profoundly meaningful sculpture. A space for reflection, a platform for discussion and exchange. A large aluminum cube, its sides bearing a phrase that alludes to both the artist's and the viewer's conscience. "I cannot answer that question, it is a matter of conscience," prompts the observer to consider what question they themselves would avoid answering.
Beyond the aesthetic value of the work, Gillick's interest lies in the current processes of communication, negotiation, and discussion between people and ideas, as well as the bureaucratic systems that govern these relationships. His aim is to foster dialogue and reflection among viewers, emphasizing the social function of art.
2. DOMINGO SÁNCHEZ BLANCO. Replica of the columns from the film Simón del desierto by Luis Buñuel
Location: Jaén street at the corner of Tarragona street, next to Luis Buñuel Primary School
Domingo Sánchez Blanco and Luis Buñuel shared an interest in the figure of the stylite Saint Simon and his column. In the film Simon of the Desert, Buñuel recreates with irony and dark humor the life of the 4th-century ascetic who spent forty years atop a column in the Syrian desert, preaching from there and where Satan himself appeared to him, transformed into a seductive she-devil.
Domingo Sánchez Blanco is a surprising and provocative artist whose work includes performances, videos, installations, paintings, and sculptures. Fully involved in the creation and interpretation of his pieces, he has on several occasions climbed columns, such as those in this installation, dressed as a flamenco dancer, like a tap-heeled stylite. A critical yet humorous work that connects with Buñuel's film.
3. SOL LEWITT. Curved Wall
Location: Paseo de Valdelasfuentes
Sol LeWitt is a key figure in the development of conceptual art, proposing a new concept of creativity that exalts the value of the idea and its planning at the expense of the artist's craftsmanship. For LeWitt, the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the artwork, and its execution is a mechanical act delegated to others.
Sol LeWitt always used humble materials, white concrete blocks of the same dimensions. The Curved Wall speaks to LeWitt's interest in curvilinear forms, but also to simplicity, logic, and clarity.
A soft, undulating form that contrasts with the roughness of the material and invites us to focus on the perception of the idea that lies within an abstract work of art.
4. JAUME PLENSA. The heart of the trees
Location: South Park, Fuente Lucha
Seven sculptures, seven bronze bodies, as many as musical notes, each embracing a cypress tree. Jaume Plensa has become an essential artist in public art, not only for his numerous installations, but also for achieving a dialogue between his sculptures and both the viewers and the surrounding environment.
The human figure is the protagonist of his work, and although Plensa uses his own body as a model, he does not intend to represent himself. Each of us is unique and unrepeatable, yet we are part of a society, a culture: the relationship between the particular and the general, the fragment and the whole, the small and the large is the central idea of his work. The body ends up being something inert that does not change; however, the tree will continue to grow and one day will cover the face and overflow the human figure. The body and the tree as metaphors for the physical and the spiritual.
The body is a container of words, ideas, and data. Jaume Plensa is in love with words and music, words that permeate his sculptures, works full of strength and poetry that, with eyes closed, invite reflection.
5. RUI SANCHES. Untitled
Location: Galicia Park
The thin sheets of steel are layered to create the forms, gradually revealing the figure. Each sheet is designed and worked individually in a slow construction process, in which the sculpture rises from the bottom up, following geometric lines on some sides and sinuous organic forms on others.
The viewer is encouraged to walk around the pieces to discover the differences between the various profiles. They are two facing modules, in dialogue, which, as Rui Sanches points out, thrive on the relationships established between them, with the space they occupy, and, most importantly, with the viewers.
6. RICHARD LONG. Circle Bra
Location: Andalusia Park
Richard Long's work is linked to Land Art. His creations use the landscape and the most elemental natural materials: stones, mud, grass, seaweed... It is always a subtle, simple intervention, avoiding monumentality and, in many cases, ephemeral. It does not aim to provoke major changes; it simply leaves a trace, a mark, a sign. His most emblematic works are the result of his long walks in remote places around the world, from deserts to glaciers, but he also creates works inside galleries and museums and in public spaces like this one.
A circle of red stones marks the chosen spot, a simple response to how he feels about this natural environment. The circle is simple, neutral, abstract, yet also powerful, evocative of ancient rituals, mysterious traces left by our ancestors. Long, the walking artist, invites us to reflect on our relationship with nature, always fragile, always changing.
7. ANTHONY CARO. Streaker Flat
Location: Andalusia Park
Anthony Caro played a major role in the development of contemporary sculpture. Born in 1924, he rejected traditional modeling and sculpting techniques, as well as the use of pedestals. By placing sculptures made of welded metal directly on the ground, he introduced a revolutionary perspective to three-dimensional art, more intimately involving the viewer in the sculpture's space.
This work belongs to the "Flat" series, which explores the flatness of forms through large, heavy metal sheets with sharp, curved edges that multiply the viewing angles of the sculpture and lend it dynamism. Anthony Caro uses industrial materials to combine energy and harmony through the strength of steel and its oxidized texture, evoking tension and balance, weight and lightness. The dialogue and contrast it establishes with Richard Long's work located in the same park is particularly interesting.
8. MANOLO VALDÉS. Queen Mariana (La Menina)
Location: Roundabout at Paseo de la Chopera and Salvador Allende Boulevard
Velázquez's work has inspired painters of his time, but also contemporary artists, such as Manolo Valdés. The portrait of Queen Mariana is a painting that Valdés has reinterpreted on numerous occasions throughout his career, demystifying it, taking it out of context, and offering a new, current, and lighthearted vision of an artistic icon. The monumental queen reappears simplified, reduced to her basic forms, but at the same time imbued with great expressive power.
Texture plays a crucial role for this artist, serving as a point of connection between his work as a painter and his sculpture. Once the volume is created, he seeks out the marks and imperfections of the material, highlighting its cracks and flaws. Scale also becomes an expressive resource, allowing us to consider new perspectives and viewpoints of the work.
9. ILYA KABAKOV. Rosenthal: pianist and muse
Location: Arab Garden of the Vega Garden
Of Ukrainian origin and residing in the United States, he is internationally known for his installations that speak of the living conditions in post-Stalinist Russia, where he worked as an unofficial artist for more than 30 years.
To create this sculptural project, Kabakov explored the public spaces of Alcobendas before choosing the fountain in the Jardín de la Vega. Like many other artists, he contributes his work to enrich this beautiful Moorish garden. The sculpture arises from the space itself, the musicality of the water, and the romantic atmosphere of the surroundings.
A hugely evocative piece, perhaps a symbol of the mixture of hope and fear with which an artist faces his muse, inspiration, or perhaps the viewer.
10. STEPHAN BALKENHOL. Man moving
Location: Salvador Allende Boulevard
Steven Balkenhol's work speaks to his interest in reintroducing the human figure into contemporary art. His sculptures depict ordinary men and women—undefined, impersonal, belonging to the present, mirrors of each and every one of us.
Balkenhol seeks objectivity and neutrality in human representation. As he himself points out, they are beautiful, silent figures that say much and nothing at the same time. As viewers, we feel this man is both familiar and distant. The pedestal helps to display the piece at a certain height, but without any intention of hierarchical isolation.
The artist proposes to us the beginning or a fragment of a story of contemporary men and women, without telling us the ending, which we, as spectators, must complete.
