A sleepwalker can perform activities such as sitting up in bed, walking or even leaving the house. The sleepwalker’s eyes are open but they cannot see, often believing they are in other areas of their home or in completely different locations. Normally they return to bed willingly and have little or no memory of their wanders, as their consciousness has altered into a state in which memories are difficult to recall. A sleepwalker shouldn’t be awakened.

In a numb and exhausted present from which everyone wishes to be awoken from, this exhibition by British artist William Mackrell presents, for the first time in Spain, a body of work developed over the last five years. His recent work exists in this very instance between sleep and wakefulness, when our bodies relax and go limp allowing for the unconscious to manifest. This leaves traces, hints and marks that seem to infuse over every work on show.

Mackrell uses his body as a catalyst through which a complex reality is filtered, unravelled through his performances and revealed in his objects. Included in this show are new works produced during his residency last autumn with LaunchPad in the French countryside of Charante. The artist, who always works in relation to the space he is inhabiting, carried out an intense research into the many rituals involved with the sunflower harvest. These flowers own a special symbolism due to their relationship with the sun and circadian cycles of movement, going every night through a lethargy and waiting for the sun to rise again.

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