Layers of Matter and Memory: Cristina Babiloni’s ‘Naturaleza Soñada’
Centro de Arte Alcobendas, Madrid
04 March 2026
Centro de Arte Alcobendas presents 'Naturaleza Soñada', on view from 11 February to 19 April 2026, a new exhibition by Cristina Babiloni. Babiloni lives and works in Castellón, Spain, and is represented internationally by Opera Gallery. The exhibition brings together a selection of her most recent works, rooted in material experimentation and a sustained engagement with nature.
In 'Naturaleza Soñada', nature is not depicted as a traditional view or panorama. Instead, it emerges as an emotional and sensory territory, built through dense, stratified surfaces that evoke memory, time and transformation. Working with hessian, sand, ceramic fragments, collage and pigment, Babiloni constructs compositions that feel at once elemental and intimate: like fragments of terrain, or traces of something half-remembered.
Her works suggest ecosystems not as stable environments but as layered, vulnerable systems—shaped by erosion, accumulation and gesture. The materials themselves carry symbolic weight. Resistant yet fragile, they operate as witnesses to what endures even after disappearance, capturing the tension between permanence and impermanence. These surfaces do not simply present an image; they hold a record, a tactile imprint that invites close attention.
Babiloni’s practice is deeply connected to sustainability and circularity. Her use of construction and ceramic-industry techniques introduces a “brutalist” sensibility, where matter takes centre stage and becomes a language in its own right. Colour, too, plays a vital role: vibrant, immersive palettes create atmospheres that encourage calm and introspection, while subtly reminding viewers of the fragile balance between humanity and the natural world.
Moving between abstraction and suggestion, 'Naturaleza Soñada' proposes a slower way of looking—one that encourages sensitivity, contemplation, and renewed awareness of our interdependence with the environments we inhabit.
