Venus Grotto (2013-2018)

Sergio Belinchón’s painterly images may look photoshopped, but they are all photographs of natural caves dramatically lit for tourists. Caves are impressive natural settings, having emerged over a timespan of millions of years, long before humans existed. The special lighting adds an artificial layer to these powerful places and forms an appropriation that more than clarifies the human impact on nature. In 1876, King Ludwig II of Bavaria commissioned the Venus Grotto to be built in one of his castles. This artificial dripstone cave, which could be illuminated in the colours red, green and blue, is where the monarch listened to Wagner’s operas. The sense of kitsch that this cave evoked in Belinchón was also something he encountered in the caves that he photographed for the project VENUS GROTTO.