Community
Emma Betrán Clos
Department / Programme
Student of Fine Arts
Nationality
Spanish
Previous Education
physics bachelor’s degree
In my practice I mainly focus on exploring the desire for inefficiency and dysfunction and their beauty. I question how efficiency and function have become compulsive priorities and I search for what remains floating if we briefly step away from them.
This mainly takes shape through performances, installations, writings and science related ways of showing data and research.
I started my artistic journey studying a degree in physics, specializing in meteorology, and I carry the analytical thinking and its research methods into my practice. Because of this background a lot of my works are connected to water. I find it a suitable medium for the atmosphere I want to create and the themes I work with, because of it being concise, transparent and volatile.
My work is shaped by absurdism, humor and joy, which help me understand what I crave, where I can find fun, meaning and beauty. In addition, it is also influenced by my experience of being on the spectrum, as it shapes what I prioritize and value differently.
In essence, I see my practice reflected in a quote from the anime Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, set in a post-apocalyptic world: “The street lights come to life where there are only trees and the ocean. The lights that once shone so brightly with purpose, now shine for the sole purpose of shining.”

