«Mountain» is the title of the work artist Maider López created in the Schlosspark. It is literally down-to-earth and located somewhere between a criticism of civilization and spirituality, between American Minimal and Land art of the 1960s and ’70s. For her project, a new pond was created, and the dug up earth was used to build two prominent mounds in the otherwise flat terrain. Like Robert Smithson and his Spiral Hill in the Dutch town of Emmden, Maider López also created a path leading to the top. Visitors in the park can walk up the mountain and enjoy the views and perspectives from the terraces. Because the landscape is the artistic material, the modulated site is subject to processes of change. Visitors are the tools that complete the work.

López’ gentle hills create a space of reflection that focuses not only on a dialogue with visitors, but also on questions of historicity, genius loci, site specificity, and artistic perspectives.

About the artist

Maider López (born 1975 in San Sebastian) is a prominent Basque/Spanish contemporary artist. From the beginning of her career, she has been working in and with public space. Often participatory in character, her interventions address the transformation and appropriation of space as well as its iconography and syntax.