Testimonio, 2012
‘I need someone to clear the street... Someone to watch my back... We earn up to 15,000 quetzals, but those who help me have to be paid, we work as a team.’ Aníbal López interviewed a hitman from his native country, Guatemala, about his job as a contract killer. The interview was conducted two days before the opening of Documenta 13, in Kassel, Germany, in 2012, in what is known as the Professional Preview. The audience, people connected to the art world, were invited to ask questions. While the answers – a reflection on social violence in the context of Latin America – seem to normalise or naturalise the act of murder, the questions from the audience suggest a simplified view of poverty and criminality that has been completely manipulated by the media. Removed from his context and social position, the hitman is seen as a criminal even though his life is in the hands of his bosses. Conceived as a performance, a recording of the interview was exhibited as part of Documenta.
Technical details
- Original title:
- Testimonio
- Registration number:
- 5513
- Artist:
- López, Aníbal
- Date created:
- 2012
- Date acquired:
- 2017
- Fonds:
- MACBA Collection. MACBA Consortium
- Object type:
- Audiovisual recording
- Media:
- Single-channel video, colour, sound, so, 43 min 37 s
- Edition number:
- Ed. 3/9 + 2 P.A.
- Credits:
- MACBA Collection. MACBA Consortium. Private long-term loan
- Copyright:
- © Aníbal López
- It has accessibility resources:
- No
The MACBA Collection features Catalan, Spanish and international art and, although it includes works from the 1920s onwards, its primary focus is on the period between the 1960s and the present.
For more information on the work or the artist, please consult MACBA's Library. To request a loan of the work, please write to colleccio [at] macba.cat.
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