MY HOUSE, MY VESSEL

My House, My Vessel
The exhibition presents the house as a physical and emotional vessel, one that holds not only desires and dreams but also the loss and abandonment of them. Like a crab’s shell, which must be shed and replaced when it becomes too tight, the house is a constantly evolving entity, suspended between what is aspired to and what is left behind. For the artist Alejandro Manzano, the house of Cerrillos (Madrid) was built through the evocative words of his grandparents and mother. Living in it was never a reality; it was an idealization, shaped by the optimistic whims of others’ memories. In My House, My Vessel, Manzano explores the domestic environment as a tension between what has been lost and what has been desired—what once was, could have been, but will never be. In a world where people must adapt to their homes, and no longer can homes adapt to people, Manzano creates an ideal house through the all-powerful imagination—designed to fit him, not imposed by standardized models. He draws upon the house his grandfather built, attempting to capture it and become part of its history, recording it and remembering it through borrowed memories. The house is presented as a vessel in which aspirations and memories are deposited, but, like them, it becomes intangible. It is no longer possible to imagine from within the house, only to imagine the house itself.

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