Ibizan ceramic artist Neus Riera, known as Riqueta, will present her first solo exhibition at the Far de ses Coves Blanques in Sant Antoni from 16 October, using a traditional island material to explore identity, belonging and a landscape in constant transformation.

The exhibition, titled Almànguenes, opens on Friday, 16 October 2026, and will remain on display until 31 October. Organised as part of Sant Antoni Town Council’s cultural programme, the exhibition offers visitors a contemporary perspective on Ibiza’s heritage through ceramics, colour and material experimentation.

At its heart is almángena, a reddish material traditionally used in Ibiza and Formentera. Through this connection to the island’s architectural and rural past, Riera reflects on what remains, what disappears and how people’s relationship with their home changes over time.

A Traditional Material with Deep Roots in Ibiza

The title Almànguenes takes its name from almángena, a natural combination of alumina-rich earth and red iron oxide that was traditionally used for practical purposes around the Pitiusas.

The material helped waterproof cisterns, water tanks and washing areas. It was also used to paint the interiors of rural kitchens, either on its own or mixed with lime, as well as some exterior walls.

Its distinctive reddish tones formed part of the traditional appearance of the island’s rural architecture. For Riera, however, the material is more than a reference to the past. It becomes a way to consider how the landscape changes, and how the traces of earlier ways of life remain visible even as the territory evolves.

The exhibition examines the tension between belonging to a place and watching it transform. What is preserved? What gradually disappears? And what new forms of identity emerge from those changes?

Ceramics as a Language for Identity and Change

In Almànguenes, Riera uses ceramics to give physical form to these questions. Her work explores materials, surfaces and colour, drawing on the history of the traditional pigment while developing a contemporary artistic language.

The project has involved an intensive period of experimentation with ceramic bodies, glazes and colour formulations. Rather than attempting to recreate the past exactly, Riera reinterprets inherited materials and knowledge through her own artistic practice.

The result is a reflection on Ibiza as a living, changing place, where identity is not fixed in a single image of the past but continues to develop through new experiences and changing relationships with the land.

The exhibition invites visitors to consider the layers that make up the island’s character, including those that remain visible and those that are gradually lost.

An Artist Shaped by Ibiza’s Ceramic Tradition

Born in Ibiza in 1987, Neus Riera has been connected to ceramics since 2012, when she began learning the craft with Antoni Ribas, known as Toniet, an important influence on her development as an artist.

She later became a co-founder of Cuina de Fang, a ceramics project that operated from 2018 to 2026 in Estudi Tur Costa, the former workshop of ceramic artist Anneliese Witt.

The project created opportunities for workshops, training and creative exchange, bringing together ceramic artists and professionals from Ibiza and beyond. Alongside her own artistic practice, Riera contributed to its management and development.

In 2023, she received the Consell Insular d’Eivissa’s Premi Vuit d’Agost for ceramics for her work Clips. Her previous exhibition projects have included Cuina de Fang at Sa Nostra Sala and En Tránsito in Sant Antoni, alongside other collaborations connected to ceramics.

With the closure of Cuina de Fang, Almànguenes also marks a new stage in her individual artistic journey.

Exhibition Details

The exhibition will be held at the Far de ses Coves Blanques in Sant Antoni de Portmany, with free admission.

• Opening date: Friday, 16 October 2026

• Closing date: Saturday, 31 October 2026

• Venue: Far de ses Coves Blanques, Sant Antoni de Portmany

• Admission: Free

• Tuesday to Friday: 18:00–21:00

• Saturday: 10:00–14:00 and 18:00–21:00

• Closed: Sundays, Mondays and public holidays

Looking at Ibiza Through Its Materials

With Almànguenes, Riqueta turns to the island’s traditional materials to consider the changes shaping its present and future. The exhibition brings together ceramics, historical knowledge and contemporary experimentation, using the reddish tones of almángena as a point of departure for a wider reflection on place and belonging.

For visitors, it offers an opportunity to discover an Ibizan artist’s work while exploring a lesser-known element of the island’s architectural heritage. The exhibition also raises a question that reaches beyond ceramics: how can the materials and knowledge inherited from previous generations continue to find meaning in a landscape that is constantly changing?