El joc del temps

El joc del temps is a three-part sculpture by Andorran artist Judit Gaset Flinch, installed in the sculpture garden beside the Prada Casadet complex in Andorra la Vella. Its Catalan title means “The Game of Time.” The work is formed from three totems made of iron and stoneware, arranged as a triangle within a square of steel. The composition is a meeting of solid industrial material and more tactile ceramic surfaces, and its repeated vertical forms give the piece a quiet, architectural presence among the surrounding buildings and artworks.

The sculpture was installed in 2013 as part of the outdoor art collection associated with the Cierco building, close to the Prada Casadet car park. It belongs to a group of public-facing works collected in the garden, rather than to a conventional museum exhibition. The courtyard is described by Andorra la Vella’s official tourism material as open to the public during the day. Visitors can therefore encounter the work as part of an urban walk, without buying a museum ticket, while remembering that it sits within a privately owned complex and access depends on the courtyard remaining open.

Gaset Flinch’s sculpture is built around three upright forms, each like a totem. The arrangement matters: the three elements stand equidistantly and form a triangle inside a steel square. The eye can move between the enclosing geometry and the individual columns, noticing how the work reads differently from each side. Its materials also create a contrast. Iron and steel give the frame a firm, weathered structure; stoneware introduces a more worked, intimate surface. The result feels less like a single figure than a small landscape of forms that asks the viewer to move around it.

The artist’s own description of the concept connects the totems with imaginary spaces, maps and messages about beginnings and endings. Time is not represented by a clock face or a sequence of dates. Instead, the sculpture suggests time as something held, layered and interpreted. The title’s “game” belongs to the viewer as well: looking at the different elements and reflections is part of how the work becomes meaningful. This gives the sculpture an open-ended character. It can be approached as an abstract arrangement of materials, but its title and structure invite thoughts about memory, change and the way a place gathers stories.

The Prada Casadet courtyard provides a useful setting for this encounter. The complex is near the central bus station and the commercial streets of Andorra la Vella, yet the garden offers a pause from traffic and shopfronts. It is an outdoor display rather than a landscaped park with a marked circuit, and the works are encountered within the scale of a city block. The art collection has included pieces by several contemporary artists, among them Jaume Plensa, Miquel Barceló, Manolo Valdés, Samuel Salcedo and Agustí Roqué. Individual works and their positions have changed over time, so older descriptions of the garden should not be treated as a guarantee that every sculpture remains in the same place.

El joc del temps is particularly suitable for a short visit focused on public art. Give yourself a little time to see the three totems from different angles and observe the relationship between the inner triangle and outer steel square. The sculpture is not a climbing structure or play installation; visitors should keep to the courtyard paths and avoid touching or leaning on the work. As the space is a shared urban courtyard, be considerate of residents, businesses and other visitors, and do not obstruct entrances or service areas while taking photographs.

There is no separate admission charge listed for the courtyard, and no ticketing or guided-tour requirement is published for viewing the sculpture from the public-access area. The municipality describes the garden as open during the day but does not publish a precise daily timetable. Access may vary with building operations, maintenance or temporary closures, so this is not a guaranteed 24-hour attraction. If the courtyard is closed, the sculpture should not be approached through private or restricted areas. The work is outdoors and can be viewed in ordinary weather, although rain, snow and low winter light may affect surfaces and visibility.

The sculpture also offers a compact introduction to Gaset Flinch’s wider practice. Her career includes figurative works, geometric constructions and the totemic forms that became one of her most recognisable approaches. In these works, shape and material are not decorative details; they organise how a viewer reads an imagined world. El joc del temps brings that approach into a public setting: its scale is substantial enough to define a small space, while its arrangement rewards close observation instead of a distant panoramic view.

To reach the garden, orient yourself toward Prada Casadet and the adjacent car park, rather than searching for a museum entrance. The mapped Gaset Flinch pin identifies the artwork cluster; the artist’s work may not have a large sign visible from the street. The city’s contemporary art stops can be combined on foot with the historic centre, Plaça Lídia Armengol and the river-side parts of the capital, but allow extra time if you plan a wider route. El joc del temps is a modest but distinctive stop: three totems, a geometric enclosure and a setting where public sculpture sits directly within the everyday fabric of Andorra la Vella.