ARIAS, Carmen

Carmen Arias’ practice is defined by a sculptural approach, sometimes combined with spoken text or performative activations. Her pieces explore the relationship between the city and its users, focusing on specific real-life examples. Questioning both the aspect and function of urban environments is a recurring theme in her work, which she presents through site-specific interventions or by reproducing and dislocating recognisable elements into the exhibition space.

Her process involves casting shapes and reinterpreting industrial methods within a more delicate, craft-oriented approach. Concrete, plaster, and ceramics are some of the materials that she frequently uses, referencing the monument-casting processes and building techniques that she conceptually thematises.

Carmen Arias (Santander, 1999) studied Fine Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid with a scholarship from Fundación Botín. She later graduated from the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich, where she studied in the sculpture classes of Hermann Pitz and Gabriel Kuri. She has participated in international programs focused on the critical reading of urban settings, including Reading Ocean Imprints with Cooking Sections (Fundación Botín, Santander) and the Tourism Culture Observatory (Casa Planas, Mallorca).

Arias has exhibited in numerous group shows, among them at Eres Projects, Karl & Faber, Kunstpavillon, Maximiliansforum, and the AkademieGalerie in Munich, the DAAD Galerie in Berlin, and Espacio Cómplices in Madrid. In 2023 she presented her first solo exhibition as part of Public Art Munich.

In 2024 she was a finalist for the 27th German National Prize for Art Students, following a nomination by artist Katinka Bock.

Currently she is preparing an exhibition at Galerie der Künstler*in in Munich and at the Kunst an der Isar festival in Landshut, as well as her first show with the Juan Silió Gallery.