Lala Birger

Lala Birger grew up amidst mud and asphalt. Born in Buenos Aires, she spent weekends on the banks of the Río de la Plata, immersed in its brown waters. The delta was her only natural setting, and almost the only one in the city. She studied architecture and fell in love with cement, metal, and the possibility of building. She worked as an urban planner, designing neighborhoods and intervening in the landscape. In her material explorations, Lala draws on memories of her childhood, before the major infrastructure projects in Buenos Aires, when the streams overflowed with force, changing the landscape as well as the architecture. Sidewalks flooded and cars were swept away by the current, like that time her sandals were carried away one summer day when she went down to do the shopping and the water was above her knees. Images that could be typical of the delta suddenly appeared in the middle of the city: water and mud crossing thresholds, evoking memories.

Lala is interested in working with that intersection: between what is planned and what escapes, between what is contained and what overflows. She explores ways of moving that muddy landscape, reconstructing it, sustaining it, sharing it. She seeks to experiment with mud, the body, and performance, rehearsing pieces that don’t fix a narrative, but rather muddy it a little, like the river and memory.