Art has always been a shelter, a place where society is allowed to imagine other worlds when yours staggers. But it is also a mirror: an area in which artists reflect the currents that cross their time. Each Arc edition, the most emblematic contemporary art fair in Spain, ands an radiography of the moment.
The 44th edition is no exception. Although Maribel López, director of Arco, said that this edition would be “quiet”, the feeling of instability that permeates the news and screens materializes in each hall of the fair. Between the 214 exhibitors from 36 countries, Political uncertainty, the rise of populism and international conflicts become the great topic of conversation.
One of the most commented works is ‘White Washing‘From the Spanish artist Eugenio Merino. A dishwasher overflowing with white dishes in which Donald Trump’s faces, Elon Musk, Giorgia Meloni, Santiago Abascal or Viktor Orbán are stamped. All the ultra -right gathered, ready to be “cleaned”. “The idea was to talk about the bleaching of the extreme right that has been developed in recent decades,” explained the director of the gallery that exposes the work.
Another visual impact is left by Ramón Mateos with its anodized aluminum installation. A metal curtain with an engraved number: 7,291. It is the number of deceased in residences of the Community of Madrid during the pandemic, a figure that the investigations have related to the protocols during the government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso. “It is a number that has become an icon of what we want to hide, of the sadness for the deceased people, it seems a lie that a number tells us so much” Angustias Freijo, owner of the Freijo gallery, reveals.
In another of his works, Mateos reviews The victims of economic crises from the bubble of the tulips of 1637 until that of 2022.
The situation in Gaza He has also found his space in this arc edition. Alex Reynolds video installation It collects, with the help of artificial intelligence, all press conferences of the United States Department of Defense on the War in Gaza from October 2024 until today. On the screen, journalists’ questions appear intact, but the answers have been cut, reduced to a repetitive vacuum. The message is clear: the official narrative does not change, the answer does not matter.
Another artist who focuses on this conflict is White Tania. In the formatocomodo gallery he exhibits ‘Palestinian journalist self -portrait working in Gaza’, an intervened photograph of Bisan Owda, the journalist and filmmaker who has narrated in the first person the Israeli invasion through his videos on social networks. Next to her, another portrait: a Palestinian woman on a green and idyllic background, a scene that only exists on the canvas. The work is titled Hallalah, Ramallah written backwards. A word game that speaks of fragmented identities and freedoms that do not arrive.
Between criticism and reflection, in Arco also coexist artists’ weight works such as Joan Miró, Juan Gris, Salvador Dalí, Eduardo Chillida and Jaume Plennsatogether with contemporary artists such as Bernar Venet and Heidi Bucher.
Source: Lasexta
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