Every summer, the salted lake of Carravalseca dries up as it has done so since I have memory, revealing the arid character of Rioja Alavesa’s region. The landscape of Rioja Alavesa, which has been modified by man for centuries, has nothing to do with the vegetation of the prehistoric period, covered with vast Holm Oak forests. Today, covered by vineyards, yet it preserves a vegetal character that soon will be transformed again. The last summers have been drier in an already arid landscape, providing a fertile ground for bushfires. Desertification is here, and it is here to stay. This silent killer is starting to unmask as the greatest challenge of a country that will need to face the consequences of climate change.  

The Carravalseca’s sterile lagoon offers a glimpse of this future that is yet to come and is the consequence of mankind’s indifference, vanity and greed. The intervention of “Ihar” which means arid in the Basque language, presents a Mars-like landscape where the absence of water and evaporation are represented by an aluminium sheet that interacts with the air, creating waves in a landscape once filled with water.