El Reino

[The first presentation and activation of The Kingdom took place in 2003, as explained by Dora García in the following text. It was developed simultaneously at the MACBA Meier building, in certain places in Barcelona such as the Plaça dels Àngels and in the actor's homes, in a publication, and on a specific website created and produced by the artist herself, which contains texts in Spanish and English. In 2024, the artist carried out a second activation of the project as part of the group exhibition [Contra]Panorama .]

The Kingdom by Dora García is an extended performance that was held at MACBA from 20 February to 30 March 2003. Conceived as an unconventional performance, it lasted a month and a half and was presented to the public as a novel available in the Atrium of the Museum: a novel containing a performance agenda and a prophecy [her term] of the events due to take place in the Museum for the duration of the performance.

Novel, agenda and prophecy were activated by a series of actors, some of whom were professionals; others, members of the Museum’s staff; still others, works from the Collection; and finally, those who unwittingly activated the performance by simply being there.

Together they were known as ‘The Kingdom Players’. To verify that everything was effectively taking place, a webcam was installed in the Atrium, so followers of The Kingdom could keep track of the events described in the novel / agenda / prophecy.

Although the programme ended on 30 March 2003, the continuous presence of the webcam in the Museum tells us that The Kingdom is still alive and we are all still players. As stated in the project’s manifesto: ‘The Kingdom takes place anywhere in the Museum and at any time. The Kingdom takes place in other places too. The space-time limits of The Kingdom are not easily definable.’

Dora García, January 2019

*Information about the image emission device of The Kingdom.