Cristina Iglesias
The Shore
14 October – 20 December 2025
London
This fall marks the first exhibition by Spanish artist Cristina Iglesias at Hauser & Wirth since joining the gallery. Iglesias is known for her unique sculptural vocabulary developed over four decades, creating immersive and experiential environments that reference and unite architecture, literature, psychology, mechanics, natural elements and site-specific content. Combining the conventional matter of sculpture—familiar materials such as glass, steel, bronze—with non-traditional materials like water and sound, Iglesias has forged an extraordinary visual language that feels simultaneously unexpected and inevitable.
The exhibition features three newly created large-scale bronze works from the artist’s Littoral (Lunar Meteorite) series, part of her ongoing exploration of geological themes. The word ‘littoral’ refers to something relating to or situated along a coast or shore, or the region where the land meets the water. Remarking that ‘the geological time of our planet can be perceived in the coasts,’ Iglesias’ sculptures touch on ideas of memory. The artist also imparts an unearthly quality by referencing lunar meteorites, rocks originating from the Moon that subsequently land on Earth. Each of the bronzes on view have a rock-like luster and unique porous form, their meteorite appearance symbolizing the collision of outer space and Earth.
Fusing the manmade with the organic, Iglesias’ use of water establishes further connections to geological processes. Water has featured as a significant element in Iglesias’ practice since the early 2000s, fundamental to large-scale installations such as ‘Tres Aguas’ (2014) in Toledo, Spain; ‘Forgotten Streams’ (2017) for the Bloomberg headquarters in London; and ‘Hondalea’ (2020 – 2021), a monumental work located within an excavated lighthouse on the island of Santa Clara off San Sebastian, Spain.
Installation Views
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Explore the Exhibition
In the works on view, concealed hydraulic mechanisms enable the water to manifest from an invisible source, resulting in works that are at once natural and artificial, familiar and alien. Cristina Iglesias’ use of water generates a sense of time for viewers, its ebb and flow making the passage of time visible. She is interested in all its characteristics, from its sound to reflections. In drawing on the multiple histories and roles of water, Iglesias harnesses its flow and ripples to explore notions of memory and the past.
Cristina Iglesias: Passages
Coinciding with her London debut at Hauser & Wirth, Cristina Iglesias’ solo exhibition, ‘Passages,’ is on view at Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera in Barcelona, Spain through 25 January 2026. Curated by James Lingwood, the exhibition presents 40 works from 2002 to 2025, charting a dynamic journey through the fluid spaces of Antoni Gaudí’s architecture and exploring the interplay of open and closed forms that define Iglesias’ practice.
Cristina Iglesias: Hondalea
Inside the Lighthouse of Santa Clara Island in San Sebastián, Spain, Cristina Iglesias has created ‘Hondalea (Marine Abyss),’ a permanent installation excavated within the hollowed-out structure itself. Incorporating the peculiar geology of the Basque coast and the wild waters of the ocean that surround the island, the work transforms an iconic place of the region into a space for reflection and communication with the city and the sea.
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About the Artist
Cristina Iglesias
A lo largo de más de cuatro décadas, Cristina Iglesias (n. 1956, Donostia-San Sebastián, España) ha definido un vocabulario escultórico único, creando entornos inmersivos y experienciales que hacen referencia y conectan la arquitectura, la literatura, la psicología, la mecánica y los elementos naturales. Guiada por una profunda sensibilidad cultural e histórica, así como por un gran respeto por el mundo natural, las obras de Iglesias redefinen poéticamente la relación del espectador con el tiempo y el espacio.
Current Exhibitions
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