LONDON.- This autumn marks the first exhibition by Spanish artist Cristina Iglesias at Hauser & Wirth since joining the gallery. Iglesias is known for her unique sculptural vocabulary developed over four decades, creating immersive and experiential environments that reference and unite architecture, literature, psychology, mechanics, natural elements and site-specific content. Combining the conventional matter of sculpture— familiar materials such as glass, steel, bronze—with non-traditional materials like water and sound, Iglesias has forged an extraordinary visual language that feels simultaneously unexpected and inevitable. Coinciding with her London debut at Hauser & Wirth, Cristina Iglesias is also having a solo exhibition at Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera in Barcelona, Spain, from 9 October 2025 – 25 January 2026 curated by James Lingwood.

The exhibition features three newly created large-scale bronze works from the artist’s Littoral (Lunar Meteorite) series, part of her ongoing exploration of geological themes. The word ‘littoral’ refers to something relating to or situated along a coast or shore, or the region where the land meets the water. Remarking that ‘[t]he geological time of our planet can be perceived in the coasts,’ Iglesias’ sculptures touch on ideas of memory. The artist also imparts an unearthly quality by referencing lunar meteorites, rocks originating from the Moon that subsequently land on Earth. Each of the bronzes on view have a rock-like luster and unique porous form, their meteorite appearance symbolizing the collision of outer space and Earth.

Fusing the manmade with the organic, Iglesias’ use of water establishes further connections to geological processes. Water has featured as a significant element in Iglesias’ practice since the early 2000s, fundamental to large-scale installations such as ‘Tres Aguas’ (2014) in Toledo, Spain; ‘Forgotten Streams’ (2017) for the Bloomberg headquarters in London; and ‘Hondalea’ (2020 – 2021), a monumental work located within an excavated lighthouse on the island of Santa Clara off San Sebastian, Spain.

In the works on view, concealed hydraulic mechanisms enable the water to manifest from an invisible source, resulting in works that are at once natural and artificial, familiar and alien. The artist’s use of water generates a sense of time for viewers, its ebb and flow making the passage of time visible. Iglesias is interested in all its characteristics, from its sound to reflections. In drawing on the multiple histories and roles of water, Iglesias harnesses its flow and ripples to explore notions of memory and the past.

Iglesias pursued a degree in chemical sciences at the University of the Basque Country, before studying ceramics and drawing in Barcelona. She then continued her studies at Chelsea School of Art, moving to London in 1980. This interdisciplinary approach and her interest in experimentation laid the foundations for her art. Iglesias returned to Spain from the UK in the early 1980s, where she developed a distinctive sculptural language of quasi-architectural forms that carved out precarious enclosures and shelters in dialogue with the exhibition space. Over the course of the 1990s, Iglesias’ practice continued to evolve, fusing natural textures cast from vegetation with architectural forms.

In 1993, she represented Spain at the Venice Biennale for a second time, showing alongside Antoni Tàpies. She was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich, Germany in 1995. She also created her first outdoor piece, an installation on the remote island of Moskenes in northern Norway, and realized her first architectural collaboration, a commission from Belgian architects Paul Robbrecht and Hilde Daem. Following this, Iglesias’ focus shifted from the creation of architecture within rooms to the construction of rooms themselves.

Iglesias’ work has been presented in more than 60 solo and group exhibitions around the world. She has created major public art commissions for Antwerp, Belgium; Baja California, Mexico; Bloomberg Headquarters, London, UK; Instituto Inhotim, Brazil; Madison Square Park, New York NY; Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston TX; Toledo, Spain; Santa Clara Island, San Sebastián, Spain; Royal Academy of the Arts, London, UK and more. She has represented Spain at the Venice Biennale (1986, 1993), and participated in the Biennale of Sydney (1990, 2012), the Taipei Biennial (2003), the Carnegie International (2003), the SITE Sante Fe Biennial (2006) and the Folkestone Triennial (2011).