Hisae Ikenaga’s work employs a recurring strategy of transforming recognizable objects from our everyday lives. Her work invites viewers to observe details of familiar objects presented in unexpected ways, generating a sense of strangeness and awakening doubt about whether we truly know something we thought we understood. The viewer finds themselves in an intermediary space between knowledge and ignorance, navigating between the rational and the sensory.

The exhibition features works such as ‘Flor de alcachofa (Artichoke Flower)’ and ‘Columna Roja (Red Column)’, ceramic sculptures where we immediately recognize traditional vase shapes, while it becomes clear that the ceramics are cut in half. Throughout human history, according to archaeological findings, remnants of ancient ceramic vessels have been discovered, all fundamentally serving the same purpose: containing liquids. The shapes of these vessels are largely dictated by the characteristics of their contents for better preservation (utilitarian) or better presentation (decorative). The original use of ceramics is to contain, and precisely it is this property that is stripped away. Deprived of their primary function, the ceramics become sculptures of fragments, serving no other purpose than to be objects of study—isolated members for observation, completely detached from their origins and history.
The deviation from their functionality is symbolized by a clean, vertical cut through their form. This cutting technique is common in workshops as it provides the potter with an immediate view of the uniformity of the edges and surfaces of each piece. However, in this case, the result is an inventory of forms, stacked within one another, reminiscent of cross-sectional diagrams and endowed with an organic character. This dialogue between the organic and the industrial is precisely the origin of the Industrial-Visceral series, in which ceramic elements interfere with glass containers, metal structures, and shelves to create a kind of inert system. Ikenaga confronts the idea of industry and rationality against the notion of viscera, the place where primary emotions strike us.