350.000 Ha
ARCO Madrid, ES
2026
The 45th edition of ARCO 2026, Spain’s leading contemporary art fair, centers on the theme of “two spaces within the fair.” Responding to this duality, 350,000 Ha is an installation that connects a built space—the Guest Lounge—with an evoked one—the forests of the northwestern Iberian Peninsula devastated by the wildfires of summer 2025. The title refers to the 350,000 hectares burned, a symbol of environmental tragedy that may also signal the emergence of a new collective awareness. The project unfolds around two core ideas: a material palette primarily based on the reuse of wood recovered from the burned forests, and the Firelight— a warm, enveloping atmosphere that evokes the ancestral power of fire to gather people together. The wildfires destroyed more than 1.5 million tons of wood, much of which remains usable. In collaboration with FINSA and VETA, four types of resources are mobilized: burnt bark (lounge wall), sawn wood (structure), veneer (lamps), and particle boards (cladding). The installation is organized through six diagonal planes of light suspended over a dark landscape that hosts a restaurant, a lounge, private galleries, and a bar. 350,000 Ha invites visitors to gather within a warm penumbra that transforms devastation into a space of reaction to an ecological disaster.
Authors:
Manuel Bouzas
SalazarSequeroMedina
Client:
ARCO Madrid
Collaborator:
FINSA, VETA
Support:
AD, FMRE, Syracuse SoA, Pratt Institute
Photographer:
Luis Díaz Díaz
Sergio Penas
