Aida Gómez was born in Madrid in 1986. She studied Sculpture at the Kunsthochschule Weißensee in Berlin and Fine Arts at the University of Castilla–La Mancha in Cuenca, Spain. Her practice encompasses a wide range of materials, tools, and combinations of elements, creating a unique visual universe built from posters, threads, textiles, advertising signs, stickers, and other everyday materials. Through language games, crossword-like structures, and the substitution of social codes within everyday environments, Aida Gómez seeks to capture and challenge the attention of passersby, disrupting urban reality and endowing it with new, ironic, and playful meanings.
Her work has been exhibited in festivals and galleries across the Netherlands, England, Spain, Poland, Germany, Colombia, and Portugal, earning her international recognition.
You studied Fine Arts in Castilla–La Mancha and Sculpture in Berlin. What motivated you to develop your artistic practice in public space?
The street is fertile ground with fantastic dynamism, and that captivated me from day one. I was already working collectively in public space before I began studying art, so I naturally tried to bring what I learned during my studies back into the street. I brought everything out there.
You were born in Madrid, lived for many years in Berlin, and have completed artistic residencies in Poland, Iceland, and the Netherlands. How has training and living in different countries and cultures influenced the evolution of your artistic style?
Living in different countries is always enriching—I highly recommend it. The people I have met in each place, each with their own way of understanding the world, have broadened my horizons and taught me many things that I apply not only to my artistic practice but also to my personal life.
Through your interventions, you address the saturation of images and information in everyday life from a poetic and creative perspective. What effects do you think art can have in questioning established hierarchies and systems?
I believe that nothing should be taken for granted. Doing so would only turn us into obedient and boring beings. As Donna Haraway suggests, it is necessary to tell stories from new perspectives and share them with the public.
Your works have a strong connection to public space and are accessible to everyone. How do context and environment influence your conceptual process?
It is completely pointless to propose any work in public space without first understanding its inherent functioning and internal order. Ignoring or failing to understand the context is problematic.
Many of your interventions challenge common sense and social codes through playfulness and humor. Do you see this as a way of challenging the passive role of the viewer?
I see it more as an invitation to create something together. I believe the participatory nature of my pieces is closely linked to their presence in the street. It is natural for viewers to interact with works in public space because it is their environment.
You often work by subverting ordinary materials and elements of the urban landscape. Within the relentless pace of everyday life, do you find confusion or surprise to be an effective way of capturing attention and encouraging reflection?
Personally, I love surprises, and I believe that moments of confusion can generate wonderful mental associations and even offer entirely new perspectives.
When developing a project, do you begin with the material and support, or with the concept and message?
I usually start with the idea and then move on to thinking about the materials.
In 2018, you created an intervention as part of Womart, a project aimed at increasing the visibility of women artists, particularly in urban art. Do you feel that your work has ever been affected by the fact that you are a woman?
In 2018, you created an intervention as part of Womart, a project aimed at increasing the visibility of women artists, particularly in urban art. Do you feel that your work has ever been affected by the fact that you are a woman?Whenever I have worked in mixed-gender groups, I have never been treated differently from my male colleagues. However, within those mixed groups, the first difference is often that male representation tends to be higher.
Improvements are gradually taking place in this area, but there are still many walls left to break down.
Finally, why do you think there has been such an exponential growth in urban art projects at both local and international levels in recent years?
I believe that the relationships created between local residents and artists are incredibly enriching for both sides. In every place where I work, I give and receive a great deal of affection and generosity.
