by Juan José Santos // July 28, 2026
This article is part of our feature topic Play.
Nearly a decade after her exhibition ‘Margen de juego’ (2017) at the Galería Rosa Santos—where Andrea Canepa transformed the art space into a game board for bodily experience governed by pre-established rules (informed by research into the theories of Montessori, Pestalozzi and Rudolf Laban, among others)—the artist continues to reflect on, reimagine and engage with the concept of play. She recently had two exhibitions running concurrently in Spain: ‘Salto, giro, cadencia, trance’ at Galería Crisis in Madrid, which interprets movement as a form of cultural resistance through the spinning top—a metaphor for a force preserved in dance—and through connections to Taki Onqoy, a 16th-century Andean religious movement of anti-colonial resistance whose name is often translated as “song sickness” or “dancing sickness.” The second exhibition, titled ‘Fardo,’ features an enveloping canvas that temporarily alters the appearance of the Palacio de Cristal in Madrid’s Retiro Park; drawing inspiration from Paracas funerary bundles, the work links the act of covering with concepts of protection, concealment and transformation. We spoke to Canepa about these exhibitions, and how she uses play as a means of embodiment and experimentation in her practice.
Andrea Canepa: ‘Until it lives in the muscle,’ video still // Courtesy of the artist
Juan José Santos: You are currently presenting ‘Fardo,’ a major installation covering Madrid’s Palacio de Cristal, which is undergoing renovations. You’ve mentioned that to develop this project, you drew inspiration from the praxinoscope—the animated-image toy that was a precursor to cinema. In what sense, and to what end?
Andrea Canepa: From the start, I knew I wanted to work with Paracas funerary bundles and the concept of covering the structure with layers of fabric, but I wasn’t entirely sure how to organize the composition. I built a scale model in my studio, and seeing it in miniature, the building’s faceted shape reminded me of the praxinoscope. In a way, it seems to me that the praxinoscope experience is very much present in our daily lives through social media “reels,” where a brief action repeats endlessly. In the Palacio de Cristal project, however, the image isn’t animated mechanically. It requires the viewer’s movement and their journey through the space to unfold and reveal its logic. This active relationship turns the experience into a dialogue between body, image and place, inviting us to pay attention to how we inhabit and activate the artwork’s temporality.
Andrea Canepa: ‘Fardo,’ 2026 // Photo by Roberto Ruiz, courtesy of Galería Crisis
JJS: You also had an exhibition running concurrently, titled ‘Salto, giro, cadencia, trance’ at Galería Crisis in Madrid. The starting point for this show was the zumbayllu—an imaginary toy featured in José María Arguedas’ novel ‘Los ríos profundos’ (Deep Rivers). Could you explain how that inspiration arose and how you translated it into the resulting artworks?
AC: The zumbayllu interested me because, in the novel, it isn’t just a toy. Arguedas turns it into a vehicle for approaching the Andean worldview. It is an object that encapsulates sound, movement, affection, desire and a very intense relationship with the invisible. It is a spinning top, yet it also resembles a small instrument for communicating with other forces. There is something about that spinning motion that isn’t merely mechanical, but almost spiritual. That ambiguity felt very close to many of the things that interest me: objects that do not entirely separate matter and symbol, play and ritual, body and thought.
In the exhibition, I tried to translate that energy without illustrating it directly. The pieces operate through twists, cadences and vibrations, alluding to a circular movement sustained by constant instability. The sculptures incorporate elements from the costumes of Andean danzaq dancers, yet there is no body to animate them. I sought to give spatial presence to that movement—but without a human presence—using only the oscillation of matter, rhythm and repetition. I was interested in thinking of the spinning top as a figure that stays alive while spinning and, at the same time, is always on the verge of falling. It is a form sustained by movement, turning the fragility of its balance into a form of persistence.
Andrea Canepa: ‘Salto, giro, cadencia, trance,’ 2026 // Photo by Roberto Ruiz, courtesy of Galería Crisis
JJS: You recently intervened at the Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM) with the exhibition ‘Entre lo profundo y lo distante’ (Between the Profound and the Distant). On that occasion, the interplay was between two visions—the Andean and the European—and the museum space itself. In these intersections you create, do you aim to break with established norms?
AC: I don’t know if I would view it so much as a desire to break norms, but rather as a desire to suspend certain hierarchies. I am interested in opening up spaces where different forms of knowledge can come into contact without one having to completely translate or absorb the other. At the IVAM, I started from a relationship between depth and distance—between a gaze associated with the horizon and one linked to the earth, to the interior, to what lies beneath or within.
Andrea Canepa: ‘Entre lo profundo y lo distante,’ 2025-26 // Photo by Juan Garcia Rosell, courtesy of Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno
JJS: Last year, you explored the possibilities of installation art both inside and outside the gallery space. In both ‘Ridotto’ and ‘Wasi Llamkha (Lugar y tacto)’ there is an invitation to activate the artworks with the body, whether that of a child or an adult. What interests you about the playful properties of materials?
AC: I am interested in play because it allows for a relationship with things that isn’t entirely predetermined. When we play, we follow rules, but we also test them and understand them physically. I do not work with the element of play because it relates to childhood or triviality, but rather because it constitutes a form of bodily knowledge. Through play, one learns how much something weighs, how it is supported, how a material responds and how space can be occupied. In projects like ‘Ridotto’ or ‘Wasi Llamkha,’ I was interested in ensuring the work was not resolved solely through the act of looking. I wanted the body to have to negotiate with the installation—to discover possible paths, postures, sensations and textures. Sometimes, a minimal action—such as crouching, passing through, leaning against or simply touching—completely alters one’s relationship with a piece. I am also interested in materials not appearing merely as a vehicle for an idea. Materials think in a different way; they possess resistance, temperature, memory and fragility. Play allows me to approach them through experimentation, and not just from a place of control.
Andrea Canepa: ‘Wasi Llamkha (Lugar y tacto),’ 2025 // Photo by Bego Solis, courtesy of Centro de Arte Contemporaneo Condeduque
JJS: Playing requires rules, whether complex or simple, traditional or groundbreaking. How do you handle working within the rules of the art game?
AC: Every artistic practice operates within rules, even if they aren’t always explicit. There are institutional, economic, spatial and discursive rules. There are production timelines, exhibition formats and expectations regarding what a work should be or how it should circulate. I don’t think it’s possible to work outside those conditions—and honestly, I struggle quite a bit with having to follow them—but I try to view it as an opportunity to work from within them with a certain level of awareness. At other times, the only option is to resist the rule, shift it or make it visible. I suppose, in the end, it’s about not fully accepting the game board you’re handed. You have to learn the rules, but also look for the crack you can slip through—that small margin where you can still make a move. And perhaps it’s also about letting go of the constant pressure to be that professional artist who meets every expectation perfectly. Sometimes, a crucial part of the work begins right there: when you allow yourself to fail a little, to veer off course or to not quite fit the mold.
Artist Info
Exhibition Info
Museo Reina Sofia
Andrea Canepa: ‘Bundle’
Exhibition: Jan. 13, 2026-Jan. 1, 2027
museoreinasofia.es
Palacio de Cristal, P.º de Cuba, 4, Retiro, 28009 Madrid, Spain, click here for map
