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 fires 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 based on the complete reuse of timber recovered from the burned forests, and the Firelight—a warm, enveloping atmosphere that evokes the ancestral power of fire to gather people together. The fires destroyed more than 1.5 million tons of timber, much of which remains usable. In collaboration with FINSA, four types of resources are mobilized: burnt bark (lounge cladding), sawn wood (structure), veneer (luminous skin), and OSB boards (restaurant 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 memory and collective action.
Authors:
Manuel Bouzas
salazarsequeromedina
Client:
ARCO Madrid
Collaborator:
FINSA
