10 | 11 . Reproduction of the statue of Las dos Marías , from Santiago de Compostela , and the cardboard bigheaded Negreta , from Vilafranca del Penedès ( EUROM )
10 11 sweeping Spain ( and Europe ) and that seeks to restore the old myths of an anachronistic history of heroes and battles , empires and national feats .
The portrait of modernised and industrialised violence during the Spanish Civil War ( what better example than the aerial bombardments , also heirs of colonial practices and a testing ground for the world war that would come later ?) was contested by forms of resistance and solidarity in the fight against fascism . And although the systemic repression and the necrophilic death cult of General Franco ’ s dictatorship was reflected in the “ immense prison ” that the country became , with its “ martyrs ” and “ fallen ”, parades , canopies and banners , exhumations , tombs and monuments , the exhibition leaves an important matter very clear : “ the forms of dignity of the anti-fascist struggles did not simply disappear in April 1939 : they endure in memory , in language , in the imagination , as the capital of utopias . They are an incorruptible school ”.
The final touch to the exhibition were the different artistic pieces , including “ Seis jóvenes ” (“ Six Young Men ”) by Juan Genovés , and the reproduction of the destroyed car carrying Admiral Carrero Blanco , General Franco ’ s right-hand man , a work by the ever-provocative and brilliant Fernando Sánchez Castillo . Although it was initially planned for the chronology of the exhibition to reach the present day , it is a total shame that this last section was not carried out , leaving the transition as the
ending point . Let us hope that the publication of the promising catalogue can compensate for this encroaching feeling of wanting more . Above all , let us hope that the State Secretariat for Democratic Memory continues to support these types of exhibitions , which are so necessary in the Spanish “ memory ” scene , exhibitions that add complexity to the past and challenge our present , with original approaches and unusual compositions , daring and capable of making us rethink the cultural heritage of the struggles for democratic freedoms that have brought us here ( and the potential of their legacy ).
Exhibition : El tragaluz democrático . Políticas de vida y muerte en el Estado español ( 1868-1976 ). Curator : Germán
Labrador Méndez . Production : Ministry of the Presidency , Relations with the Cortes and Democratic Memory ; State Secretariat for Democratic Memory ( SEMD ); Ministry of Transport , Mobility and Urban Agenda – Fundación ENAIRE ; Acción Cultural Española . Location : Centro de Arte la Arquería . Nuevos Ministerios ( Madrid , España ). Dates : 24 March 2023 – 23 July 2023
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