One of my favourite buildings in Madrid is the Palacio de Cristal, a nineteenth-century iron and glass palace modelled after London's Crystal Palace.
Nestled in Parque del Retiro and adorned with ceramic tiles, it's now used as an exhibition space by the Museo Reina Sofía.
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Throughout the summer the Palacio has hosted the Japanese artist Mitsuo Miura's installation Memorias Imaginadas ("Imagined Memories").
Suspended coloured disks hang from the ceiling above partners of the same faded colour.
The effect creates invisible columns of space between the disks suspended from the ceiling and lying on the ground. It augments the feeling of space and, more simply, is just beautiful to look at.
The trees in the park outside and the sunlight streaming through the windows make it feel like the installation is a natural part of the world outside.
The exhibiton's blurb says that the spaces between the disks are intended to come to life with imagination and memory. The use of faded colours is supposed to suggest diffused, faded memories. Whether you buy into that reading or not, it's a beautiful stop off on a stroll through Retiro, and an atmospheric place to catch the sunset.
Until 2 September 2013
