Yiyo Tirado Rivera, from the series Castillos de arena (Sandcastles), 2020–

Yiyo Tirado Rivera: This is a series that has been going since 2020.

Narrator: Yiyo Tirado Rivera.

Yiyo Tirado Rivera: They are called Sand Castles. Basically I recover architectural plans from these emblematic hotels back in Puerto Rico. Most of them have been constructed between the fifties and the sixties and the seventies, at the start of the Commonwealth in Puerto Rico so the purpose of these hotels was to present Puerto Rico as a touristic venue for the Caribbean.

Narrator: In this case, Rivera has recreated La Concha Resort, which was built in 1958. It takes its name from its iconic ballroom, a building shaped like a conch shell. It’s very near the shoreline, on a sand beach that was artificially constructed. 

Yiyo Tirado Rivera: When the winter comes, the sea rises its levels, the waves hit the ballroom.

So the purpose of the work is, from the beginning of the exhibition, to fall apart. And the piece also has this relation with the climate. The time it takes the sculpture to fall apart is variable with the climate around the piece. So that's kind of the metaphoric thing in the piece.