Carmen Roca Igual: ‘What gives you energy is what you should be doing’

Carmen is busy finding her way and making plans. “I’m applying for residencies, mostly in Madrid. I’m not yet ready for a studio here. I have also assisted other artists with their projects and learned a lot. As for galleries, it’s difficult. I haven’t yet found the kind of connection I had with 1646.” Carmen is quite nostalgic about this experimental art space in the Boekhorststraat in The Hague. She also fondly remembers her participation in Prospects at Art Rotterdam in 2024 and taking part, some time ago, in an event about internet culture and identity organised by V2_Lab for the Unstable Media, an interdisciplinary centre for art and media technology, also in Rotterdam. So, yes, there’s the pull of the Netherlands, but it’s not where she is right nown. She is thinking about reaching out to CA2M (Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo), a contemporary art museum in Madrid. “They’ve shared artists and collaborated with 1646,” she explains. Summarising her present situation, she says: “It’s hard, but it’s also exciting. What gives you energy is what you should be doing.”

Stories

Carmen has for some time been working on a feature film titled The Last Lola. “It has been a bit stagnant,” she says. “I talked to producers and started to feel that it no longer was like my original idea. So I put it on hold for a bit, but I didn’t feel happy about that decision either. Then I did a new edit, taking things into a new direction. I feel better with it now and I’m back to talking to people. I’m something of a perfectionist, you see.” The film can perhaps be seen as part of Carmen’s urge to tell stories. “Currently, I’m also writing a lot,” she says. “Writing is an innate thing for me, but I’m now also doing an online course. I started last year when I was going through a lot of changes. It’s like someone is whispering to me, like being a medium at a seance. I just pour it all out and make choices afterwards. It might become a collection of short stories.” She points out that Threads of Femininity, her collaboration with STROOM Den Haag in 2025, also took the form of a publication. “Writing is in all my work,” she explains. “Even for non-verbal work you make a script.”

Being physical

Nevertheless, she confesses that the written word does not provide complete fulfilment. There’s also the physicality of painting and the attraction of the non-verbal. “I have just painted a headboard for my bed,” she says with a smile. “It looks like a set design for a princess’s bed. I missed being physical, so I just did it. The other day, I saw an open call for a residency related to a performance. I was just about to put it aside, because I’m not actually a performer. But then I thought, wait, I would like to research the non-verbal. I’ve done this before, it’s not unknown territory. So I think I will make a portfolio.” Carmen is fascinated by the dynamics of observation, particularly women feeling observed, which is a recurring theme in her work. “I remember I was in a car, looking at a beautiful arid landscape and then felt that the driver was looking at me. I found myself trying to look interesting. Is it an intimate moment becoming insincere? Becoming ‘acting’? Or is it not that? Is it still somehow real? I do think you can find yourself through being observed.”

Confrontational moment

The nomination for the Piket Art Prizes came at what Carmen describes as “a confrontational moment”. “I was right at that time questioning my relationship with the art world. Winning the prize shook me. It’s also about having to deal with expectations. I once had a teacher who really believed in me. It was wonderful but also weird, because you really don’t know what’s going to happen. Art is an amazing way to tell stories, but you cannot predict where it will take you.” Still, at a time when anything may happen, she is happy to have the prize money to fall back upon. “I was travelling a lot between Madrid and my parents’ village. So I feel fortunate to have found a house in Madrid where I can live for a few months.” In their report, the Piket jury praises Carmen for her ability to translate urgent cultural questions into engaging and multilayered visual artworks and express their curiosity about her future development. Carmen seems to be just as curious. However, given the role balconies and windows play in her work, she must be eminently suited to deal with windows of opportunity.

Text: Anna Beerens
Photo: Eliza-Sophie Sekrève