
Exhibition preview·London
Carolina Aguirre's split bronze 'Held' cradles a quartz heart at Frieze Sculpture
Argentinian-British artist Carolina Aguirre has placed a monumental split-bronze sculpture, 'Held' (2026), in Regent's Park for Frieze Sculpture 2026. The work, shown with Ruttkowski;68, opens to reveal a white quartz core gathered from the artist's family home in Uruguay.
A monumental bronze sculpture that splits open to expose a white quartz heart is among the new works greeting visitors at Frieze Sculpture 2026, the free outdoor exhibition currently installed in the English Gardens of Regent's Park. Argentinian-British artist Carolina Aguirre's 'Held' (2026), presented by Ruttkowski;68, takes the form of a weathered bronze mass divided in two, holding a single pale quartz fragment suspended between its halves. The concept grew from xenoliths, the foreign stones that become trapped inside molten rock and are carried upward into a new host body. Aguirre has translated that geological phenomenon into a meditation on belonging: the bronze shell stands for an outer body, while the concealed quartz core represents the home and memory carried within it. The artist sourced the quartz itself from her family's home in Uruguay, giving the work a direct personal anchor. The contrast between the sculpture's surfaces is deliberate. The bronze exterior is pitted and textured, as if shaped by exposure to the elements, while the revealed inner belly is smooth, warm and marked with abrasions, symbols and inscriptions. Viewers are invited to step close and read the interior, which the artist describes as a way of granting access to concealed histories and narratives. 'Held' sits within the fourteenth edition of Frieze Sculpture, curated for a fourth year by Fatoş Üstek and running from 16 September to 1 November 2026. The edition brings together eleven international artists and coincides with the build-up to Frieze London and Frieze Masters, which return to Regent's Park from 14 to 18 October. Aguirre's contribution adds an intimate, autobiographical note to a programme otherwise dominated by large-scale statements, turning a geological curiosity into a quiet image of holding home at a distance.


