Latest news with #EugenioMerino
Reuters
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Reuters
Dictator Franco's head replica rolls on football pitch in Spanish art festival
MOIA, Spain, July 4 (Reuters) - Spanish artist Eugenio Merino and a U.S. art collective used a lifelike replica of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco's head as a football at an art festival to warn of the dangers of fascism amid the rise of the far right in Europe and the United States. The performance formed part of the Ex Abrupto festival near the town of Moia, about 60 km (37 miles) north of Barcelona, where intense fighting occurred in 1939 during the Spanish Civil War. A representative from the U.S. collective INDECLINE, who did not want to be identified, said the act aimed to remind people about the history of fascism in Europe and the risks posed by the rise of the far right in many countries in Europe and the United States. "Without addressing these issues and addressing history you don't really have a context of what you are really walking into," he said. Franco ruled Spain with an iron fist for almost four decades until his death in 1975 after his fascist forces defeated the leftist Republicans in the 1936-39 Civil War. Artist Eugenio Merino, 50, who created the rubber replica, said the game he had dubbed "Kick Franco's Head" was to mark the 50th anniversary since the dictator's death. Merino has previously used Franco's likeness as a punching bag or has displayed it in a fridge. Those works from the early 2010s led to several defamation lawsuits against him, but the courts threw them out in 2015. The short game, played by 22 performers, featured frequent shouts of "No pasaran!" – a Republican slogan meaning "they (fascists) will not pass".
Mint
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Mint
Dictator Francos head replica rolls on football pitch in Spanish art festival
By Horaci Garcia and Albert Gea MOIA, Spain, July 4 (Reuters) - Spanish artist Eugenio Merino and a U.S. art collective used a lifelike replica of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco's head as a football at an art festival to warn of the dangers of fascism amid the rise of the far right in Europe and the United States. The performance formed part of the Ex Abrupto festival near the town of Moia, about 60 km (37 miles) north of Barcelona, where intense fighting occurred in 1939 during the Spanish Civil War. A representative from the U.S. collective INDECLINE, who did not want to be identified, said the act aimed to remind people about the history of fascism in Europe and the risks posed by the rise of the far right in many countries in Europe and the United States. "Without addressing these issues and addressing history you don't really have a context of what you are really walking into," he said. Franco ruled Spain with an iron fist for almost four decades until his death in 1975 after his fascist forces defeated the leftist Republicans in the 1936-39 Civil War. Artist Eugenio Merino, 50, who created the rubber replica, said the game he had dubbed "Kick Franco's Head" was to mark the 50th anniversary since the dictator's death. Merino has previously used Franco's likeness as a punching bag or has displayed it in a fridge. Those works from the early 2010s led to several defamation lawsuits against him, but the courts threw them out in 2015. The short game, played by 22 performers, featured frequent shouts of "No pasaran!" – a Republican slogan meaning "they (fascists) will not pass". (Writing by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
France 24
a day ago
- Entertainment
- France 24
Footballers play with Franco head at Spain art festival
The "La Copa del Generalisimo" performance, subversively taking the name of a tournament played during Franco's iron grip on the country from 1939 to 1975, comes as Spain marks the 50th anniversary of his death. The experimental "Ex Abrupto" art festival pitted two teams against each other for a self-styled "anti-fascist fixture" in Moia, around 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of Barcelona. The choice of pitch was also highly symbolic, close to former trenches used by the defeated republican side in the 1936-1939 civil war that brought Franco to power after his coup. The recreated hyper-realistic head was fashioned by the Indecline group and Eugenio Merino, an artist whose work has tackled Franco and the right-wing dictatorship on several occasions. He attracted attention more than a decade ago with "Always Franco", a life-sized representation of the general in a refrigerator that sparked an uproar at Madrid's ARCO art festival in 2012. Merino courted controversy again with "Punching Franco", a work that used the dictator's head as a punching ball. The Francisco Franco Foundation, which works to promote the late dictator's legacy, lodged complaints against both works that were rejected by the courts. Merino used the same mould for the resin and silicone-covered head which was the protagonist of Thursday's match. "It's the 50th anniversary of Franco's death and I thought it was necessary to commemorate" it, Merino told local radio RAC 1. "We recover that idea of the people that plays and enjoys, and we also recover the idea of anti-fascism." The game, which only allowed limited spectator numbers, was recorded for broadcast on Friday and Saturday in a bar in Moia, while the head can be visited in a local museum. Merino and Indecline had already teamed up to send political messages, using the recreated head of Donald Trump to play football at the wall on the US-Mexico border and one of Brazil's rightist former president Jair Bolsonaro.
