Biennial 2025 – Camino Irreal

Gabriel Chaile, Batuko Tabanka, Batucada Sico Bana, Agnes Essonti, Megane Mercury, Estefanía Santiago
Alcindo Monteiro
Installation with performative, musical and culinary activations

13 September – 11 October

Madrid – La Casa Encendida, Esta es una plaza Biennial 2025 Installation, Visual Arts, performance

© Raimundo Pérez-Messina

Recognised worldwide for his creative and anthropological approach, Argentine artist Gabriel Chaile produces sculptures from natural materials that breathe new life into contemporary art: creations that have an impact on space, relationships and communities, reconnecting people with the sacred rituals of food.

His work includes sculptural objects such as clay pots and ovens that take on anthropomorphic features. The artist seeks to invoke the memory of people and landmarks of civil resistance through community and celebratory rituals around food – in its wisdom and ancestral craftsmanship, in its healing dimension and in its multifunctionality of feeding the body, soul and spirits.

The oven-sculpture “Alcindo Monteiro” by Gabriel Chaile pays tribute to the Portuguese youth of Cape Verdean origin who was murdered in 1995, in Lisbon, in a racist attack that became a symbol of the anti-racist struggle. After its presentation in Lisbon, at MAAT / EDP Foundation, the work is now presented for the first time in Madrid, at the Esta es una plaza space in Lavapiés, in partnership with La Casa Encendida. Across three afternoons,the installation will form part of a public programme featuring concerts, performances and, of course, food.

Performative, musical and culinary activations
Collaboration between BoCA and La Casa Encendida

13th September
Starts at La Casa Encendida at 12.30pm

Parade to Esto es una Plaza at 1pm with:
Batucada Batuko Tabanka, Burela/Galicia - Cape Verde (music)
Batucada Sico Bana, Madrid - Senegal (music)

Food: Cape Verdean cachupa and food from Equatorial Guinea, by Mayra Adam Chalé

© Raimundo Pérez-Messina

20th September
12.30pm Agnes Essonti (performance)
13.30pm DJ Megane Mercury (music, performance)

Food: based on the work of chef/cook Agnes Essonti

© Raimundo Pérez-Messina

11th October
12:30pm Gabriel Chaile (visual arts)
1pm Estefanía Santiago (audiovisual, performance)

Food: Argentine empanadas and dishes from different communities in the Lavapiés neighbourhood.

©Raimundo Pérez-Messina

Sessions

13.09.25

La Casa Encendida, Madrid

12:30

20.09.25

Esta es una plaza, Madrid

12:30

11.10.25

Esta es una plaza, Madrid

12:30
Technical info / Work
Gabriel Chaile
Alcindo Monteiro, 2023
Iron structure, Adobe (clay, sawdust, shavings, glue)
2.38m x Ø 1.50m
Curatorship
John Romão
Commission and production
BoCA – Biennial of Contemporary Arts (Lisboa)
Presentation partner
La Casa Encendida - Montemadrid Foundation
Support for the presentation in Madrid
Programação Cultural Cruzada Portugal-Espanha – 50 anos de democracia