Image: Fundació Miró Mallorca, Palma
Fundació Miró Mallorca will present Stella Rahola Matutes’ ‘La Biblioteca’ from 19 September 2025 to 22 March 2026 in Espai Zero at the organisation’s Moneo building in Palma. The exhibition is announced alongside two other new temporary shows opening the same evening, but Rahola Matutes’ project is presented as a distinct installation focused on material recovery, manual labour and the suspended status of borosilicate glass waste.
According to the exhibition text, ‘La Biblioteca’ is built through installative and sculptural works that create situations and places around specific residual materials. The project brings together more than 2,000 discarded borosilicate-glass pieces collected by the artist from different workshops in Catalonia. The foundation describes borosilicate glass as a resistant, ultra-clear material that requires higher temperatures than ordinary glass to melt and can only be worked by hand, not mechanised or industrialised.
That technical condition is central to the exhibition’s premise. Because borosilicate waste from these workshops cannot be recycled and there are not enough workshops remaining to generate sufficient discard for a fusion plant, the material is said to remain in a state of suspension. Rahola Matutes uses that situation to frame a broader reflection on a production chain in which scientific instruments such as test tubes, ampoules and coils depend on manual skill before they can serve laboratory research and knowledge.
The exhibition text also links the work to the relationship between body, hand and knowledge. By asking physically about the possibilities of making, the artist explores what the foundation describes as a delayed and empathetic approach to our material culture. In that framing, ‘La Biblioteca’ turns discarded glass into a field of inquiry rather than a closed cycle of reuse, and into a way of reconsidering the social and political contexts that shape whether materials can re-enter production.
Rahola Matutes’ background, as provided by the foundation, includes studies in architecture at the ETSAB in Barcelona, a master’s degree in projects from the same school and an MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London. The institution notes that architecture informs her interest in space, structural construction and the capacity of materials to transform. Her practice is described as one that addresses the creation of places and situational encounters through installative and sculptural pieces.
The exhibition page adds that the artist’s recent presentations include ‘La Biblioteca’ at Dilalica during Barcelona Gallery Weekend 2023, ‘Apunts per un incendi dels ulls’ at MACBA in 2021, ‘Inviting Life’ at Pavelló Mies van der Rohe in 2023, and ‘Teoria de la Alegria’ at MACE in Eivissa in 2020. It also notes recent recognitions including finalist status for the Premi Ciutat de Mallorca in 2025, the Premi Arts Libris Banc Sabadell in 2024, and the Biennal d’Arts Visuals Ricard Camí in 2022.
The opening of ‘La Biblioteca’ is set for 19 September 2025 at 19:30, with the exhibition continuing through 22 March 2026. The foundation’s exhibition page places the project in Espai Zero at Edifici Moneo, Carrer de Saridakis, 29, Palma.
