LLEI D'ART 10

of great virulence. Despite having rubbed shoulders with all periods and generations, it seems paradoxical to see how skilfully and easily this need can be found in an unfortunate man without him noticing its presence, only manifesting in the eyes of the wise man –who himself is perhaps not execrable, albeit opportunistic– who then sets out his stall. Now then, to satiate his avid appetite for recognition and praise, the former ill-fated simpleton follows the pied piper’s steps, bewitched by his longings and promises of heaven and earth, of course, paid in convenient instalments. To this end there are merchants of vanity that say they trade with anything they get their hands on. They are fairground charlatans, supposed experts in arts of trickery, marginal nosey parkers, geezers or other celebrities of disenchantment that play their instrument and bring the unfortunate and vacuous down the path of self- aggrandisement. Not all the rats taken in by the piper are fatuous; some are, although it is true that a few are only guilty of ignorance. Like any product that you hope will take you to fame and fortune, you need to make it visible to other people, and here we have a number of ways of getting the prize, most of which end up in the (either real or imaginary) window displays of bargain bazaars where anything goes and everything is good, despite nobody knowing what they’re either selling or buying. These men are the tinkers at the end of the line, although in their own vanity of ostentation –which they also use for their own ends– they call themselves cultural managers, event organisers, gallery owners, or even art merchants. At the end of the day, nobody has questioned these charlatans about their qualifications to run such ruses, and as such they run around ripping the aforementioned vain glory-seekers to pieces, and to boot, these tinkers think they’re in a position to expound on this and that subject. How little we have learnt! Luisa Noriega © Samuel Tristán 19