Casa Quemada (Burnt House)

Casa Quemada (Burnt House) is an artistic project by Antonio Palacios Rojo that examines environmental and social degradation in the Andalusian provinces of Seville and Huelva.

Methodology

The project unfolds through walking practices across territories shaped by wildfires, mining pollution, and migrant worker shantytowns. These walks foreground the relationship between technological exploitation and ecological conservation.

The itineraries trace the courses of the Guadiamar, Tinto, and Olivargas rivers and their surrounding landscapes—territory historically associated with Tartessos. During September and October 2024, Antonio Palacios Rojo walked through sites that had been selected for their distinctive geometric shapes visible in satellite photography.

Each walk was recorded using an application that captures GPS data. The core of the project consists of a series of downloadable .kml files containing the full set of recorded coordinates. The resulting routes were later superimposed onto satellite images as a supplementary document. Another additional material consist in a text describing each journey and incorporating reflections by the following contributors:

• Félix Talego Vázquez, Associate Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Seville.
• Jesús M. Castillo, Biologist, University of Seville.
• Sebastián Celestino, CSIC researcher and director of archaeological projects on Tartessos.
• Manuel Olías, Professor of Surface Hydrology and Hydrogeology, University of Huelva.
• Ángels Escrivà Chordà, Professor, Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Public Health, University of Huelva.
• Emma González, Coordinator of the Seasonal Workers Support Program at Huelva Acoge (Andalucía Acoge Network).

Definition

Casa Quemada (Burnt House) is situated within the fields of Data Art and Locative Media, engaging post-digital practices such as life-logging, walking art, and critical ecologies within the broader context of contemporary art in the Anthropocene.

The project translates lived experience into downloadable data, framing the artist’s own movement through the landscape as a continuous process of documentation, reflection, and critique.