12 May 2026 | Photo: Günther Lüstemberg
The exhibition at Berlin’s b23 Space runs until 23 May
Jo Murúa opened his solo exhibition “Careta” at b23 Space, a cultural space for creatives and contemporary mindfulness hub in Berlin. Presenting a new body of work shaped by the visual language of Buenos Aires street culture and the graphic sensibilities of 1990s animation, the exhibition, curated by Greta Belen, is running until 23 May.
Across the exhibition, Murúa introduces a recurring cast of figures positioned somewhere between the comic and the unsettling. Oversized smiles, fractured eyes and hooded silhouettes appear throughout the works, forming characters that resist settling into a single emotional register. Instead, the exhibition moves through an ambiguous visual territory where familiarity and tension coexist.
Executed entirely without colour, “Careta” also addresses expectations often projected onto Latin American artistic production within European contexts. By removing saturated palettes and overt visual warmth from the works, Murúa redirects attention towards atmosphere, texture and material presence. The resulting monochromatic compositions evoke a version of Buenos Aires that visually parallels urban environments such as Berlin.
Material process plays a central role throughout the exhibition. Working with airbrush on paper, Murúa employs a technique defined by accumulation and permanence, where alterations and corrections remain limited once marks are made. In contrast to the accelerated circulation of digital imagery, the works foreground slowness, physicality and the visible trace of manual production.
The exhibition’s opening programme featured live DJ performances from Bryta, Omen and Mati Espina.
