| The Death of The Artist | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Abel Azcona |
| Year | 2018 |
| Medium | Performance Art |
| Location | Circulo de Bellas Artes,Madrid,Spain |
The Death of The Artist is a conceptual and performative work of critical content by artistAbel Azcona. The artwork was both a continuation of his earlier works and closure of the series, being performed in 2018 in the lobby of theCirculo de Bellas Artes inMadrid. His previous works had caused Azcona to receive threats, persecution, and acts of violence. By letter, the artist invited the organizations, groups, and entities that had threatened his life to the installation, where a loadedfirearm was offered and Azcona stood exposed on a raised platform.[1]
Abel Azcona has been involved in several controversies andlegal proceedings. In his first actions in the streets ofPamplona in 2005, Azcona was arrested several times.[2] Later, during his self-confinement in the workDark Room, public opinion was against the harshness of his self-imposed deprivation ofliberty andfood, generating controversy.[3] The work was stopped after 42 days and the artist was admitted to apsychiatric clinic.[4] Similarly, during the installation where another artist stayed continually in a garbagecontainer at the Lyon Biennale, people spoke in favor of ending the work.[5]
The works of Azcona with explicitsexuality such asEmpathy and Prostitution orLas Horas, were criticized when shown in cities such as Houston andMexico City, cities where at the time of the exposition antisodomy or anti-sexual diversitylaws existed.[6] In 2012, he was threatened andpersecuted for his workEating a Koran, in which he ingested a copy of theKoran atUniversity of the Arts inBerlin.[7] During the years 2014 and 2015 he was arrested and his exhibitions in theUnited States were canceled. In 2014, the firstUtero performance in Houston was criticized in the media for "exceeding the limits of integrity and endangering his own life".[8] During aMiami exhibition in 2015, twelve children walked into a performance inside the art gallery with firearms in their hands, which was a critique of the laws and the permissibility of weapons in the United States. The exhibition was canceled and Azcona had to return toEurope. A few months later he performed a new work inChicago, where he denounced thepolitical and ideological nature ofDonald Trump. The artistic action was considered "heroic" by the AmericanHuffington Post.[9] In 2015, he was denounced by the Carlist Traditionalist Union for performing the workBuried inside theMonument to the Fallen in Pamplona. The work demanded memory and reparation for the victims of the Republican side. Its exhibition inside the Monument, built in order to exaltFranco,Mola, andSanjurjo, was considered offensive by far-rightconservatives.[who?][10]
Azcona's work denounces child abuse and has been persecuted and denounced for being critical of theChurch in works such asThe Shadow orAmen or The Pederasty.[11] The latter was sued three times before theSuperior Court of Justice ofNavarra fordesecration andblasphemy by theArchbishopric ofPamplona andTudela, who are representatives of theCatholic Church in the north of Spain.[12][13] The second one, by the Delegation of the Government in Navarra, controlled by the Popular Party at the time, and the third one by The Asociación Española de Abogados Cristianos (Spanish Association of Christian Lawyers), who also made criminal complaints against Azcona.[14] The lawsuits were won by Azcona,[15][16] however the group took the complaint to theSupreme Court. Whilst awaiting the case being heard by the Supreme Court, the Association of Christian Lawyers, in this instance acting alone, started an action against Spain in theEuropean Court of Human Rights inStrasbourg for not condemning Azcona,[17][18] and according to them, to protect him. Each time the work was shown, the complaint was re-formulated, so Azcona was cited in the Court of Justice ofPalma de Mallorca and in theHigh Court of Justice of Catalonia in Barcelona. After five years of judicial proceedings for critical works against the Catholic Church and more specifically, withpedophilia, Azcona declared his " disobedience" in relation to charges, and the complainants included obstruction of justice in their complaints.[19][20][21]
In 2016, Azcona was accused of exaltingterrorism.[22][23] In his exhibition Still Life,[24] Azcona recreated, in the form of sculptures, performance and hyper-realistic installations, current and historical situations of violence in diverse themes such ashistorical memory, terrorism and conflict.[25] Two years later, in 2018, he was denounced by theFrancisco Franco National Foundation for exposing in one of his works a detonation report, signed by anarchitect, of the Monument of the Valley of the Fallen.[26] He was also criticized by theState of Israel for the pieceThe Shame, where the artist installed fragments of theBerlin Wall along theWest Bank Wall.[27] The same year he represented Spain at the Asia Art Biennial in Dhaka. Azcona installed wooden chairs in thePavilion with distressed children from the streets of Dhaka. His performance was interrupted by theprotests of the organization and attendees.
In addition, the Círculo de Bellas Artes presented a complete reading ofThe artist's presumption as a radical and disobedient subject, both in life and in deathmanifesto.[28][29]