CHRISTMAS SYNCRETISM, 2015

Installation
Original fanal, wooden base, red velvet, enamel, clay caganer figure, acrylic, papier mache objects, cardboard, paper, plastic flowers, spray
Variable dimensions
[Escalera de incendios, 2015]

This participative installation was created as a visual response to Bartomeu Marí’s decision to cancel the exhibition “The Beast and the Sovereign” at MACBA having considered inappropriate the work “Not dressed for Conquering / Haute Couture 04 Transport” by the Austrian artist Inés Doujak. Doujak’s papier mache sculpture depicts Spain’s former King Juan Carlos I being sodomized by the Bolivian labor leader and feminist icon Domitila Barrios, who is in turn sodomized by a German Shepherd dog.

Though the former King’s image became more viral than ever after Mari’s decision, the real protagonist of Doujak’s work is Domitila Barrios. The strength of Domitila’s leadership made history after leading a massive fasting that overthrew Banzer’s dictatorial presidency on the Christmas 1977. On this Christmas 2015, Bartomeu Marí is in the limelight attracting public offerings to his caganer figure protagonist of the traditional Latin American fanal.

→ Performative offerings by Natalia Carminati, Victor Jaenada and Efrén Álvarez

Bartomeu Marí’s caganer waiting for the offerings.

Marí’s caganer surrounded by a bluebottle bouquet depicting Doujak’s censored work.

LIDL basmati rice offered by Victor Jaenada.

Cardboard friends offered by Efrén Álvarez. From left to right: Vicente Todolí, Ferran Barenblit, Martina Millà, Carles Guerra, Oscar Abril Ascaso, Chris Dercon.

Christmas fanal. Front view. My offerings: Christmas Lottery ticket with Bartomeu Marí’s birth date, a flower arrangement depicting “Not Dressed for Conquering” by Inés Doujak, a book of “Korean for Beginners” with Marí’s declarations against censorship translated to Korean.

View of the offerings: cardboard friends (Efrén Álvarez), LIDL Basmati rice (Victor Jaenada), chalice with animal blood and two quotations from Atahualpa Yupanqui (Juan Cruz).