I am throwing the ball

Location

Country: Spain
City: Madrid
Place: British Embassy

'I am throwing the ball' by the artist Marta Marcé is a site-specific installation over four floors of the central internal stairwell at the British Embassy and Consulate-General in Madrid. It was commissioned by the Government Art Collection on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2008. Starting with the idea of a pool game, Marcé designed a pattern of colourful balls and lines that appear to bounce and criss-cross in different trajectories around the glass stairwell, animating it with movement. Made from vinyl, the forms are applied to the glass, through which light diffuses. Its engaging playfulness contrasts with the functionality of the architecture and enhances the communication and flow of people by visually linking each level to the next. All aspects of game-playing, from following or breaking rules, to making decisions and taking chances, inspire Marcé whose work explores the systems of game-playing as metaphors for how we live our lives.

Marta Marcé was born in Barcelona and studied at the Facultat de Belles Art (1990-95). She moved to London in1997 where she is based today. Completing her MA at the Royal College of Art in 2000, Marcé has exhibited widely in the UK and abroad, including solo shows at Milton Keynes Gallery (2001) and at Riflemaker, London (2006). She was shortlisted for the Jerwood Painting Prize in 2001 and more recently, she received the Abbey Fellowship at the British School in Rome in 2008.

Marta Marcé was born in Barcelona and studied at the Facultat de Belles Art (1990-95) and later at the Royal College of Art, London. In the mid 1990s she lived briefly in Berlin and Paris and in 1996, she won a scholarship to work in Lima, Peru. Marcé has exhibited widely in the UK and abroad. In 2001 she was shortlisted for the Jerwood Painting Prize. In 2008 she was awarded the Abbey Fellowship at the British School in Rome, where she lived and worked for four months. Also that year, Marcé was commissioned by the Government Art Collection, on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, to make a site-specific installation for the central stairwell of the new British Embassy and Consulate-General offices in Madrid.

Places

Subjects

abstract

Materials & Techniques

self-adhesive vinyl, printed vinyl

Artist

Marta Marcé (1972 - )

Title

I am throwing the ball

Date

2009

Medium

Site-specific installation: self-adhesive vinyl on glass panels

Acquisition

Site-specific commission for the British Embassy, Madrid, installed June-July 2009

Provenance

the artist (commission)

GAC number

18269