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letter from spain  




by Kim Bradley
 






SOCIALIST OUSTER PROMISES 

NEW CULTURAL POLICY

The future of Spain's heavily-subsidized 

art world remains uncertain following the 

poll-defying Mar. 3 national election. 

Pre-election sentiment seemed to signal a 

decisive right-wing victory, which would 

put an end to the Socialist's 13-year 

reign, and along with it the government's 

generous arts support. However, the right-

wing Popular Party (PP) candidate, Jose 

Maria Aznar, barely squeaked into first 

place. In order to be formally granted the 

presidency, Aznar is now forced to wrangle 

support from antagonistic opposition 

leaders who are unlikely to easily forgive 

and forget earlier, virulent attacks. Even 

the most optimistic observers anticipate 

several months of political dickering 

before Aznar takes the helm. In the 

meantime, the state's cultural institutions 

chug along at half steam. 


Numerous culture ministry officials and 

museum directors have no other option than 

to wait to be replaced by the eventual 

victors. The PP's cultural platform, which 

has been largely concocted by 37-year-old 

Miguel Angel Cortes, its culture-minister 

"candidate-in-waiting," rests on two main 

pillars: educational support and fiscal 

incentives. Plans call for the merger of 

the culture and education ministries, 

purportedly to provide Spaniards with the 

well-rounded upbringing they need to 

"appreciate the art on view at the Prado, 

the Reina Sofia and other Spanish museums." 

Under the Socialists, "culture was treated 

as a leisure-time activity," complains 

Cortes.


In terms of its fiscal measures, there are 

widespread fears that the PP will attempt a 

Thatcheresque privatization of the arts, 

although it couldn't hurt to rewrite 

Spain's tepid gift tax law, as the PP vows 

to do. The new government intends to boost 

private patronage in three main areas: 

foundations, restoration of historic 

patrimony, and the donation of artworks 

(deductions as high as 35% would be 

permitted in some cases). In addition, 

artists would be allowed to amortize their 

income taxes over several years' time. 

According to Cortes, "contemporary art 

enthusiasts have good reason to be happy 

about about our plans."


As one of the PP's few moderates, Cortes is 

an anomaly within his own party. Articulate 

and energetic, during the past seven years 

he kept the Socialist culture ministers on 

their toes by bombarding them with 

counterproposals in his role as PP's 

congressional spokesman for culture. A key 

member of Aznar's select five-member think-

tank, he is largely credited with 

persuading Aznar of the strategic (e.g. 

political) importance of Spanish arts and 

humanities. (At one point during the 

election campaign, Aznar swore that 

cultural programs were second only to 

unemployment on his list of priorities.) 

However, the Spanish contemporary art 

community remains fiercely skeptical. The 

cultural policies of other PP leaders, such 

as those of Madrid's mayor Jose Maria 

Alvarez del Manzano, have proved 

disastrous. Alvarez's harebrained schemes 

(such as to acquire 15 Botero outdoor 

sculptures) frequently provoke angry 

protests by Spanish intellectuals and top 

gallery dealers (including Soledad Lorenzo 

and Juana de Aizpuru).




THRILLS AND SPILLS AT ARCO


Despite pre-election jitters, 160,000 

visitors thronged to ARCO, Spain's 

contemporary art fair, held in Madrid Feb. 

8-14. The record-breaking attendance 

represents a 14 percent increase over last 

year. Overall, the quality of the work on 

view was higher than in recent years. 

However, there were few thrills, except for 

ARCO's "cutting edge" section, which 

included dealers Christopher Grimes 

(Santa Monica), Ze Dos Bois (Lisbon), 

Uncomfortable Spaces (Chicago), and Carmago 

Vilana (Sao Paulo), among others. 


The fair's spirited mood masked serious, 

behind-the-scenes conflicts which seem 

endemic to ARCO. Dealers David Juda and 

Hans Mayer resigned from the organizing 

committee in disgust, claiming that ARCO's 

administrators do nothing to encourage a 

market for foreign art in Spain. Portikus 

Director Kaspar Konig, co-curator of this 

year's "Germany in ARCO," quit a few days 

before the fair opened, reportedly due to 

ARCO's final-hour refusal to fund a major 

component of his carefully-prepared 

program. 


Although the crowds annoyed some ARCO 

dealers, who called for a "more serious" 

fair, one had to admit that Madrid's thirst 

for art was impressive. Long lines wound 

around the Prado to see Velazquez's scary 

painting of Pope Innocent X (loaned by the 

Doria Pamphili family; now on exhibition at 

London's National Gallery through May 19), 

and the Reina Sofia's galleries buzzed with 

activity. In addition to a huge Balthus 

exhibition (through Apr. 1), on view at the 

Reina Sofia was the first retrospective of 

Zaj (through Mar. 21), a little-known 

Fluxus-like conceptual music group that 

braved Franco's censors. The show traces 

Zaj's entire history, with special emphasis 

on its heyday from 1964 to 1973. On display 

is an extensive array of photographic 

documentation and (the few remaining) 

videos of performances, selected recordings 

of concerts and sound poetry, and a wide 

assortment of Zaj's mail art and 

publications. Recent artworks by each of 

the three key Zaj members, Juan Hidalgo 

(Hildalgo's homoerotic photos merit special 

attention), Esther Ferrer, and Walter 

Marchetti have also been included in the 

exhibition.


Zaj was deeply indebted to John Cage, who 

performed with them and helped arrange 

their only tour of the U.S. and Canada 

(1973). Their relationship with Fluxus was 

touchy, according to curator Jose Antonio 

Sarmiento. However, both groups relied 

heavily on Buddhist Zen thought, and shared 

the same influences: Cage, Duchamp, Satie, 

Durruti, and Marinetti. As Zaj member Juan 

Hidalgo says, the difference between Zaj 

and Fluxus is "the difference between the 

Marx brothers and Buster Keaton." What 

makes Zaj remarkable is its very existence 

under Franco; each activity required 

official approval. A 240-page Spanish-

edition-only catalogue offers the first 

definitive study of Zaj to date.



BARCELONA CONTEMPORARY


The inauguration of Barcelona's long-

awaited contemporary art museum (MACBA), 

designed by U.S. architect Richard Meier, 

was a major disappointment. The first 

sampling of MACBA's collection (on view 

through June 6), comprised of 60-odd 

paintings and sculptures, is an assortment 

of minor works arranged without any 

apparent rhyme or reason, and badly lit. 

Just to lend an idea: jumbled together in 

one segment were works by Anselm Kiefer, 

Miguel Angel Campano, Gunter Forg, Jose 

Manuel Broto, Gerhard Richter and James 

Brown. Even works by talented younger 

Spanish artists such as Victoria Civera and 

Txomin Badiola, which could have brightened 

up the presentation, barely hold their own. 


To be fair, it's true that Meier has come 

up with a cruelly impractical interior; 

there is virtually no classically 

proportioned, unobstructed square or 

rectangular gallery space in the museum. 

But MACBA's most serious problem is a lack 

of curatorial imagination. For example, 

"Parallel Creations: Metaphors of the 

Real," ostensively presented as a major 

opening show, was another dreary 

hodgepodge. It featured maquettes and 

drawings by six artists whose only link was 

that of having produced a public artwork in 

Barcelona (Claes Oldenburg, Mario Merz, 

Jannis Kounellis, Juan Munoz, Jaume Plensa, 

and Miquel Navarro).


Fortunately, Barcelona is fairly bursting 

with activity. MACBA, rather than setting 

the pace, will need to carve a niche for 

itself if it doesn't want to be left out. 

Aside from the Tapies Foundation's 

consistently high-quality programming, 

MACBA is also put to shame by the Centre de 

Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona (CCCB), 

a two-year-old multidisciplinary venue that 

has steadily improved its offerings. 

Currently on view are "Scenes de la view 

future. L'architecture europeen et la 

temptation de l'Amerique, 1893-1960" 

(through May 14, organized by Montreal's 

Center Canadien d'Architecture), which 

examines the scope of American 

architecture's influence on Europe, and 

"Art and Power" (through May 5, organized 

by London's Hayward Gallery and Berlin's 

Deutsche Historisches Museum), which 

presents fascist art and architecture from 

Spain, Germany, Italy and Russia. CCCB is 

playing a vital role in encouraging local 

production of experimental music, film, and 

video by hosting international festivals, 

which are drawing huge crowds. A slate of 

new galleries and alternative spaces 

feature emerging art, and a curious 

resurgence of performance art seems to be 

taking hold. Although so far new local 

work is largely derivative, it appears that 

(unlike Madrid) Barcelona is on the verge 

of consolidating a cultural infrastructure 

that could sustain a healthy art scene.



MUNTADAS' NEW INSTALLATION


Among Barcelona's government-run exhibition 

halls dedicated to contemporary art, the 

one with the best track record so far is 

the Centre Santa Monica, which despite its 

nebulous identity and second-rate 

catalogues has come up with some real 

jewels in the last few years, including a 

survey of neo-conceptual art in Spain, new 

work from China, and little-known 

sculptures by Chris Burden. 


Currently on view at there is 

"Des/aparicions" [dis/appearances] (through 

Apr. 15), a large-scale installation by 

Antonio Muntadas that addresses the unusual 

history of the Centre's 17th-century 

building. Before becoming an exhibition 

hall, it served as (in the following order) 

a convent, a residence for impoverished 

artists, home to the Barcelona circus, a 

military office-cum-arsenal, a Red Cross 

headquarters, a tax collection center and a 

journalism school. As Eleanor Heartney has 

pointed out, much of Muntadas's work 

involves an attempt to reveal the invisible 

structure of institutional power.


Muntadas has converted the center's main, 

good-sized space into a darkened, makeshift 

theater equipped with a movie screen and 

seating. Images (some stable, other 

intermittent) are projected throughout the 

space. The gesticulating hands of local 

politicians hover near the ceiling, while 

old images of the building fade in and out 

on the theatre's walls and floor. In 

addition, two videos are shown on the 

screen. "S.M.E.P." intersperses segments 

of an 1956 propagandistic film about the 

journalism school with recent interviews of 

its former students conducted by the 

artist. "TVE, Primer Intento" is a 

chronological compilation of Spanish 

national television's official sign-off. 

The subtle changes which take place in 

these announcements (which depict Spain's 

royal family) speak to Spain's democratic 

transition. Muntadas has also given new 

meaning to the center's lecture hall by 

piping in "Hymn of Hymns," a mixture of 

national anthems. "The File Room," his 

interactive archive of cultural censorship, 

is also on view. For more information: 

http://www.wsite.es/des-aparicions.



A PLETHORA OF PUBLIC PROJECTS

IN NORTHERN SPAIN 


Arts activity is also picking up in other 

parts of Spain, thanks in part to new 

contemporary art museums.In Bilbao (in 

Spain's Basque region, near France), the 

new Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, designed by 

Frank O. Gehry, is under construction. It 

looks beautiful--but when will it open? 

Some time in 1997, hopefully. 


Meanwhile, the project has drawn the 

attention of curators and artists to the 

city's gritty industrial landscape. Last 

summer, independent curator Corinne 

Diserens initiated "Puente de pasaje" 

[Bridge of Passage], an ongoing series of 

temporary public art projects. So far, 

Dennis Adams, Willie Doherty, Marcelo 

Exposito and others have been invited to 

create works that respond to an unusual 

turn-of-the-century hanging bridge (sort of 

like a suspended ferry) and/or the 

surrounding working-class neighborhood. 

Currently scheduled for May is an 

installation by Suzanne Lefont involving 

large photographic images to be hung in 

Bilbao's metropolitan train stations (the 

images are designed to be seen by 

passengers while the trains are in motion).


In Santiago de Compostela (also in northern 

Spain, but on the Atlantic coast side, 

above Portugal), the Centro Galego de Arte 

Contemporanea (CGAC) has put together an 

ambitious program directed toward the 

city's primarily university audience. 

International artists are asked to produce 

new work which is backed-up with a mini-

retrospective, such as in the case of 

"Advento," a stunning exhibition of work by 

Christian Boltanski. Many well-known 

pieces, such as Les Suisses morts, 

Monuments: Les enfants de Dijon, and L'ange 

de l'alliance, which seem to have lost 

their impact (at least for this viewer) in 

traditional museum galleries, are empowered 

by the special setting employed: the dark, 

dank 14th-century Church of San Domingos de 

Bonaval (directly adjacent to CGAC). On the 

floor of the church, Boltanski has arranged 

used coats in a cruciform which echoes the 

transept; this a magical piece, impossible 

to imagine anywhere else.



KIM BRADLEY is an American art critic 

living in Barcelona.