Fundación. Marlon de Azambuja

Curated by Bruno Leitão, Foundation is a project by Marlon de Azambuja that transforms an exhibition room into a living territory, paying particular attention to the materiality and the thought processes that emerge from the space itself. Based on a sculpture intervention that reconfigures the architecture of the place, the installation invites us to rethink the act of “founding” not as a gesture of upward construction, but as a search for the basis: a downward movement to explore the entity that upholds and, at the same time, conditions all forms of knowledge.

This displacement of the gaze—from surface to subterranean—places matter at the centre of the experience. Far from operating as a neutral support, the materials are active agents that store memories, produce language and condition the way in which we perceive and understand. In this respect, Foundation questions an epistemological tradition that separates reason and sensation, subject and matter, and that treats knowledge as transparent, something that can be dominated.

The exhibition is situated in the reverse of that logic. It proposes a practice based on physical involvement, contact and attention, where there is no distinction between thinking and feeling. Here, matter doesn't represent ideas but generates them. Through densities, forces and frictions, the installation produces forms of meaning that are not articulated through a linear or interpretative logic, but through direct experience.

Throughout his career, Marlon de Azambuja has developed an artistic practice that questions the ways in which art, architecture and urban space organise perception and produce meaning. His work often stems from minimal gestures and material displacements that alter existing structures, revealing the tensions—visible and invisible—that configure the environments we inhabit. Situated at the intersection between sculpture, installation and spatial intervention, his work adopts a critical gaze at the systems for representing, distributing and legitimising art, bringing into play relations between body, matter and context.

From this perspective, Foundation proposes a critical reflection on the museum as a framework for producing knowledge, challenging the idea of the exhibition space as a neutral container. It asks us to imagine it as a place that can accommodate more relatable, situated and sensitive forms of thought. Rather than inviting us to decipher or interpret its meaning, the work aims to expand our ability to feel; instead of presenting an object that is explained, it presents an environment that acts upon, affects and reconfigures our attention. The architecture, folded and dense, thus acquires an organic dimension: it is not observed from the outside but is penetrated.

Foundation therefore proposes an alternative image of the exhibition concept: not as representation but as practice. A space where thought is manifested in the matter, the friction, the listening, and in a shared experience that is forged over time.

Activations

During the course of the display, the exhibition will be activated by situated interventions, encounters and conversations, conceived not as external events but as activations integral to the development of the installation. These processes will generate records—textual, performative and material—that will be physically incorporated into the exhibition space, adding new layers to the project. The activations will be conducted by Dima Srouji, Edgar Calel and Claudia Segura.

Biodata

Marlon de Azambuja was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 1978. He currently lives and works between Paris and Madrid. A multidisciplinary artist, his work constantly addresses themes related to the city, architecture and the different modes in which we perceive our environments—physical, political and cultural—through the body as a tool of experience and knowledge.

Selected recent exhibitions include: Orbius Tertius, Galerie Joseph, Paris; Art Biesenthal, Berlin; Revenir du Présent, Collection Lambert, Avignon; The Shadow over Everything, Mabiti, AlUla; Beneath the Surface, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne; Artocene, Chamonix; Derivas, Galeria Municipal do Porto; Baksteen Brik, Kunsthalle Kade, Amersfoort; and Inaudito Magdalena, Museo de Arte de Tolima, Colombia. He has also taken part in major international biennials, such as the Dhaka Art Summit (Bangladesh), FRONT International (Cleveland), the Mercosul Biennial and the Havana Biennial. His work can be found in leading public and private collections, including the Kadist Foundation (San Francisco); the Centre National des Arts Plastiques (CNAP) and Emerige (France); the Nomas Foundation (Rome); the Museo Helga de Alvear and the CA2M – Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo (Spain); Mirabaud (Switzerland); and the Centro Itaú Cultural São Paulo (Brazil).

Verbos Encendidos #2: Comprender

Foundation is presented within Verbo Encendido Comprender [Lit Verbs: Understand], a specific programme for 2026 that brings together different activities and initiatives that invite audiences to take a critical, multi-dimensional look at some of the most pressing issues of modern society.

“Verbos Encendidos” is an invitation to act upon some of the most pressing issues of modern society through a thematic approach and from multiple places. In 2025 the verb chosen to articulate many of the programmes presented by La Casa Encendida of Fundación Montemadrid was “Listen”. The verb in 2026 is “Understand”.

#Visual / Plastic Arts