M HKA Ensembles

Photography

Collection: Courtesy of the artist.

Many of the works by Irene de Andrés consider the development of the culture, leisure and tourism industries in the twentieth century, up to the present moment. The artist was born in Ibiza, growing up there as a child during the period when it became a major tourist destination for clubs playing acid house and Balearic beat, which has been an inspiration for some of her works.

In Heaven, 2015, Andrés looked at the club Heaven, which has a backstory of business problems, opening and closing down at regular intervals. The club was however considered pioneering in the use of lighting and lasers, which became the subject of a series of etchings the artist made, focusing on their sensorial experience. These clubs, which were once full with the energy of dance and electronic music, are now ruins where nothing happens.