ARCO Madrid’s new thematic section, entitled It’s Just a Matter of Time, revolves around the work of Félix González-Torres and the scope of his influence on contemporary art and speech.

For the launch of this new section, we present Liam Gillick’s historical floor piece Half Asleep, Half Awake, 1998: golden and silver glitter dissolved in pure alcohol with which the floor is swept. This process leaves clearly visible residues. Whenever found necessary, the process can be repeated.

Since 1996, glitter has been a recurring motif in Liam Gillick’s work. The connotations with which the inclusion of the material (often mixed with alcohol and spread across the surface of a table or the floor) is imbued have included both festivity, renovation, cycles of crisis, exposure to the apparently menial, or period-specific fascination with its aesthetics.