Following the 80th anniversary of the creation of the work, the Musée national Picasso-Paris, in partnership with the National Museum Reina Sofía Art Center, presents an exhibition about Guernica, masterpiece of Pablo Picasso. The anti-Franco, anti-fascist and pacifist symbol, was preserved in 1981 to Madrid where it is now permanently displayed. Thanks to an exceptional collection of sketches and archives, the exhibition proposes a lesson on the history of Guernica.
AC/E supports the participation of Pilar Albarracín who will perform on Guernica as part of the exhibition “Guernica”, and on the date of the anniversary of this historic event (April 26, 1937). Her work proposes a reflection based on physical experience to bring the public closer to Guernica as a symbol of the contemporary battlefield covered with civilian corpses after a bombing. At the same time proposes a review of the historical and cultural role of women as a suffering machine.
The performance consists of a hundred women who will lie on their stomachs, their sides or their backs, immobile forming a multicolored tapestry in the only access to the museum and at the end of the exhibition tour, at the exit to the street. The visitor who wishes to access the rooms and then leave them will be forced to walk over the bodies or to look for a space between them to move around. This action integrates the viewer into the work itself as it would happen years ago in performances such as “Imponderabilia” (1977) by Marina Abramovich and Ulay. (AC/E press-release)
Musée National Picasso. 5 rue de Thorigny 75003 Paris.
http://www.museepicassoparis.fr
Image: Etude pour Guernica (Tête de cheval). Pablo Picasso, Paris, 2 mai 1937. Musée de la Reine Sofia, Madrid. Photo © Musée de la Reine Sofia, Madrid