In Memoriam, 2024

Álvaro Urbano, In Memoriam, 2024, Metal, paint and wood, 51.5 × 21.5 × 15 cm

Álvaro Urbano’s In Memoriam is a sculpture that reflects on the transience of performance and memory within the history of queer and minimalist art. Created for his solo exhibition at SculptureCenter in New York, the work is a stack of replicated cassette tapes of Scott Burton’s (1939–1989) performances—an artist whose work has often been under-recognized in the broader narrative of American conceptual, performance and queer art.

Urbano’s show was an exploration of preservation and loss—both personal and historical—through sculptural interventions that blur the boundary between object and ghost, archive and myth. By focusing on a potential ruin, or a ruin in progress, Urbano readdressed one of Burton’s public artwork that was rescued from destruction yet still faces an uncertain future.

Photo by Marjorie Brunet Plaza