Based between Madrid and Sydney, GRANDEZA STUDIO (Amaia Sánchez-Velasco, Jorge Valiente Oriol and Gonzalo Valiente Oriol) is a collective of architects and artists founded in Madrid in 2011. Their work studies late-capitalist spaces and narratives to identify –through critical analysis– and challenge –through political imagination– the mechanisms that veil and normalize structural forms of violence against bodies and territories.
GRANDEZA STUDIO’s work hybridizes methodologies that entangle with research, critical spatial practice, writing, performance, design, filmmaking and pedagogy.
Their work ‘Pilbara Interregnum: Seven Political Allegories’ was recently exhibited at the 18th Biennale Architettura 2023 in Venice (titled ‘The Laboratory of the Future’ and curated by architect and writer Lesley Lokko). Their film ‘Strata Incognita’ (co-directed along with Locument) was exhibited in ‘Foodscapes’, the Spanish pavilion of the same edition of the Biennale di Venezia.
In 2019, the team (together with Miguel Rodríguez-Casellas) conceptualized and designed the Australian pavilion for the XXII Triennale di Milano (titled “Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival”, and curated by Paola Antonelli). The pavilion, ‘Teatro Della Terra Alienata’, received the Golden Bee Award for the best international contribution. ‘Teatro’ was acquired in 2021 by the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) for its inclusion in the museum’s permanent collection of Contemporary Design and Architecture. Coinciding with the acquisition, Grandeza and Bajeza published the book ‘Teatro Della Terra Alienata: Reimagining the Fate of the Great Barrier Reef’, in Spanish and English, with publisher Bartlebooth.
GRANDEZA STUDIO’s work has been widely published and exhibited in Germany (Bauhaus Dessau in 2014); USA (1st Chicago Architecture Biennial in 2015); Chile (XX Chilean Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism in 2017, and Campus Creativo at Universidad Andrés Bello in 2022); Spain (XIV Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism in 2018, and Arts Santa Monica in 2022); Italy (XXII Triennale di Milano in 2019, 18th Biennale Architettura di Venezia, 2023); the Netherlands (Bureau Europa in 2019); Australia (Mildura Arts Centre in 2016, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery in 2017, Bank Art Museum Moree in 2018, Tin Sheds Gallery in 2018, Australian Design Centre in 2018, MADA Gallery in 2020, Powerhouse Museum and National Gallery of Victoria in 2022) and Sweden (Luleå Biennial 2024).
