Controversial artwork goes on display in Barcelona
After being vetoed by European Parliament, ‘Political prisoners in contemporary Spain’ can now be seen at the CCCB until June 17
The controversial artwork ‘Political prisoners in contemporary Spain’ by Santiago Sierra has arrived in Barcelona. It went on display at the capital’s contemporary art museum, the CCCB, on Thursday, just two days after the European Parliament vetoed it at another exhibition to be held in Brussels.
Last year, the piece was pulled from Madrid’s International Contemporary Art Festival (ARCO) in order to avoid “controversy.” But Sierra’s now famous work, bought by a Catalan collector, went on to enjoy success at the Museum of Lleida, where the exhibition closed with 7,153 visitors, a record for the centre.
“Language, truth and politics”
Its inauguration coincided with the CCCB’s Orwell Day, opening 17 days of exhibits related to “language, truth and politics.”
The museum’s director, Vicenç Villatoro, highlighted how the confluence between Orwell day and Sierra’s piece offers “exceptional bases for dealing with freedom, censorship and culture, but also an essential theme such as the debate on the existence of political prisoners within regimes that are proclaimed democratic.”
Authoritarianism, violation of rights, and the idea of freedom of speech often played key roles in the work of George Orwell, whom the day is named after.
These are also themes that now surround the artwork, after it was first censored in Madrid last year. ‘Political prisoners in contemporary Spain’ is made up of 24 black and white photos of people in prison in Spain for supposed political reasons, with their faces pixelated. Among them include the deposed Catalan vice-president Oriol Junqueras, as well as twice presidential candidate and former head of Asemblea Nacional Catalana, Jordi Sànchez.
Censorship and liberties
The photos are accompanied by a brief text that, without giving away a name, allows each portrait to be identified.
Villatoro stated that the installation opens up debate on freedom of expression, the relationship between politics, truth and lies, censorship and liberties in a democratic system. The exhibit can be seen until June 17.