Doris Salcedo is the latest artist to highlight the refugee crisis, with a new work honouring migrants due to go on show in Madrid later this year. The vast public art piece by the Colombian artist, part of the ongoing Palimpsest series (6 October-1 April), will go on display in the Palacio de Cristal in the Parque del Retiro, a venue run by the Reina Sofia Museum.
The work is dedicated to “all of those who have drowned in the Mediterranean and Atlantic in the past 20 years, emigrating in search of a better life,” according to the museum's website.
A spokesman adds that the Palacio floor will be covered by 192 panels; water will flow through the tiles by means of a complex hydraulic engineering system, highlighting the names of refugees who died trying to reach Europe across the Mediterranean sea. “The hydraulic system creates a sequence that re-absorbs the water after some time,” he says.
Salcedo is known for her large-scale political interventions. Last year, she covered the main square in Bogotá with 7,000 metres of white fabric following Colombia’s shock vote to reject a landmark peace deal with Farc rebels. The shroud-like installation was covered with the names—written in ash—of just 7% of the victims of the conflict.