Emilio López Menchero. Image courtesy of the artist
Activity
Saturday May 25, 2024
Saturday May 25, 2024
Camarades
Site-specific performance by Emilio López Menchero
in progress
In early 1939, the main Republican institutions along with those of the few countries that still recognised the Republic as the only legitimate government of the Spanish state settled in Agullana to oversee the withdrawal just before the final defeat. For a few weeks, the Government of the Spanish Republic, the Government of Catalonia, the Central Command of the Army and the embassies of Mexico and the Soviet Union took over houses and farms while hundreds of thousands of starving people crossed the border in the freezing cold heading toward an uncertain future.
Back to Brussels, after traversing the same routes where the exiles escaped and having visited the houses that served as the temporary shelters for these institutions, Emilio found a biography of Josef Stalin written by Lev Trotsky in an old suitcase belonging to his grandfather. Curiously, reading this book that remained unfinished due to Trotsky’s death at the hands of Ramon Mercader, the Stalinist agent sent to Mexico by the Soviet Union, transformed what had seemed like a trip back to the past in Agullana into a premonition of a new cycle of utopia-turned-inferno about to make the world tremble. Through Camarades, López-Menchero offers a route taken by the exiles forced to leave their homes due to totalitarianism, in a collective, grassroots performance that takes us from the dream of revolution to the genocidal nightmare of fratricidal envy and delusions of grandeur.
Limited spots available. Sign up at info@lainfinitalh.org For more information, please check our social media @lainfinitalh @antipodes
A joint production of La Infinita de L’Hospitalet and Les Antípodes commissioned by Oriol Caba and Jordi Colomer. With the support of the Town Council of Agullana, the City Council of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat / Cultural District, Department of Culture of the Government of Catalonia and MACBA.
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programme
09:00 – 09:10 h
Departure from Barcelona
11:00 – 11:30 h
Arrival at Agullana (Girona)
11:30 – 11:45 h
Town Hall. Welcome and reception. International solidarity of art and culture
11:45 – 12:15 h
Lunch
12:15 – 14:45 h
Mexican embassy. “Trying to be Stalin”
14:45 – 15:00 h
La Concòrdia. Homage to the man of steel
15:00 – 15:15 h
La Concòrdia. Georgian banquet
this activity is part of
participant
Emilio López-Menchero (Mol, Belgium, 1960) is a transdisciplinary artist working with painting, drawing, installation, photography, video, urban intervention and performance art. Lopez-Menchero explores the notion of identity and the artist’s place in society. He often starts his work based on well-known figures in literature, music, film and politics, whom he puts under the microscope and analyses. For the series “Trying to be…” he disguises himself as a number of notable figures from (art) history and our collective memory: from Frida Kahlo, Pablo Picasso and Fernand Léger to Che Guevara, Yasser Arafat and Pablo Escobar. By always imitating these personalities in their characteristic poses and accompanying clothing, he deconstructs a number of mythical figures and examines what makes a person iconic. In assuming the role of other characters, he also thematises the idea of an altered perspective and worldview. More information at https://www.emiliolopez-menchero.be
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Camarades
1 artists
Contact
For more information check the social networks:
@lainfinitalh @antipodes
exhibition
Del 9 de maig al 24 de setembre de 2024
Del 9 de maig al 24 de setembre de 2024
Jordi Colomer. Façana Foto Festa Futur Fideus
