Zeitgeist, 1985

Zeitgeist, one of Francesc Abad’s first installations, was presented in 1985 at the Sala Muncunill in Terrassa. The title is a word that refers to the spirit of the time, which in Abad’s hands is here converted into an anti-war theme. The small plastic soldiers, tanks and other military material, sold inexpensively at a newsstand, enable him to construct a reflection on war and the arms race. Rather than a mere use of war toys, the work refers to war become a simple game. The visual composition dialogues with the video, itself done using images of missiles and others from emblematic movies like Rambo and Blade Runner. It is accompanied by the music of Kurt Weil, the German-Jewish composer censured by Nazism who was exiled to the United States.