Although the oeuvre of Aitor Ortiz is, in appearance, an encounter with architecture, it does not involve the conventional representation of a varied range of architectural typologies with which human beings interact and which many photographers, like those of the Düsseldorf School, have succeeded in capturing. Ortiz is not (nor has he ever been) interested in that. In reality, the raw material of the camera of Aitor Ortiz is architecture, but its "objective" and results are very different. These black and white photographs represent fragments of anonymous, and sometimes unclassifiable architectural spaces. The spectator recognises these as places that he has seen or experienced before but, at the same time, senses that these are unreal, timeless, silent.... These imaginary, sometimes metaphysical, sometimes abstract worlds, with their sculptural appearance and pictorial reminiscences, are built with naked concrete walls, beams, floors or ceilings bereft of references and contexts. La subjective perception of the reinvented architecture of Ortiz identifies a strange familiarity in these ambiguous, unknown places.

Muros de Luz, (Walls of Light), this new project created by this Bilbao-born artist for ARTIUM, shares a common language with his previous work, although the spectacular nature of their scenography and their examination of the visual perception of architecture, is still more ambitious. The gallery contains a set of photographs in different formats which bring together, on the one hand, images of the raw material of the architecture, in other words, rough stone and the quarry from which this is extracted, and on the other, a naked architecture, in this case of ARTIUM itself. The overall and highly visual impact of these works envelops the visitor through the monumental geometry of these black and white images and the intense light that emanates from some of these, which appear to be loaded with especial energy.

The rough texture and crude monumentality of the rock can be felt as our eyes explore these images of the walls of a quarry. Some of these rough walls have been perforated, leaving a number of openings and windows from which a clear, almost supernatural white light is emitted, generating high-contrast, theatrical chiaroscuro effects. In some of the images, in addition to accentuating the sculptural quality of the rocky mass, this luminous effect transforms the space of the quarry into a place full of symbolism, as if it were a sanctuary or sacred place.

Opposite the quarry, the architecture of the museum. Several photographs blend into the wall of the gallery itself, perforate and penetrate this, going beyond its physical limits. So successful is the artist in achieving this trompe l'oeil effect, that even the sharpest visual perception would have difficulty in determining what is image and what is wall. The spectator is left with a certain sense of unease as he must struggle to discern what is real and what is not. This uncertainty about what is real and tangible and what is fictitious and purely of the mind highlights the limitations of human visual experience (and the power of photography).

Other, smaller-format images complete the exhibition. They are almost abstract and in spite of containing clear architectural references, are very pictorial in appearance. The exhibition concludes with the projection of a video that takes the visitor once again to the starting point: the quarry.

Photography, architecture, sculpture and light form part of a complex and sophisticated visual matrix, Muros de Luz. Aitor Ortiz has succeeded in creating a dialogue between all these elements to construct a non-existent architectural landscape, a tangible but impenetrable universe.