LLEI D'ART 11

proclamation about the disgraceful extermination of whales, I suggest patrolling in one of Greenpeace’s Zodiacs and not make people waste time while you slather your naked body (what a way to waste something like that!) in beef fat. Whoever enjoys such pantomime need only take a few doses of trash TV, especially those where people let themselves be degraded and humiliated to the point of cruelty in a lion’s den in exchange for a few pennies. A waste of energy in the form of malevolence and vileness that buys souls through the other side of the screen, displaying the most paltry and mean side of the masses, that same ignoble trash that used to applaud public executions or punishing of heretics and converts during the Inquisition. A statement is made justifying revolution through resistance; people fight to save lives in the midst of misery by seeing to lepers: lack of communication and isolation are denounced by conversing with the victims and helping them overcome their problems. Such acts are indeed, noble, liberal, magnanimous and truly important, but they are by no means show or artistic festival material, but rather a heroic, often anonymous deed that nobody pays for. Useless actions with sponsors, and always within a crowded stage, quite in keeping with a superficial and insubstantial society which, behind a faux mask of distress at the surrounding events, hides a sardonic smile caused by other people’s pain. 21 st century pantomimes that are not even amusing. They suggest no reflections; they demand them. Something quite understandable because without that awkward and artificial discourse, its representation is becomes a ridiculous sight, however many thousands of dollars some people get for posing. This arrogance –and may the readers forgive me– makes me heave. The artist is an artist because they are able to represent emotions thanks to their artistic talent. The best of them, in addition to being highly disciplined, usually confront hugely complex challenges and postulations that develop in the shelter of their intelligence and inventiveness. However, in these simplistic demonstrations of decadence there is neither skill nor imagination. If they didn’t take place in places so sacred to art such as museums, art fairs or galleries, they would be seen as acts of untruthfulness or alienation. They wear away the shabby interweaving of contemporary art and mock the more inexpert viewer. Intervention, like performance, is ephemeral and trivial. It seeks attention, but never lasts and it is not rare to see its manifestations understood as acts of hooliganism by the police unless it is under the protection of some public institution that justifies absurdity. I wonder how they would deal with a crowd of ‘installationers’ roaming free around public spaces and letting themselves be carried away by their imagination. At the end of the day, nobody asks you to prove that you’re an artist. Luisa Noriega recauden por hora de posado. Esta arrogancia –y permítanme los lectores que me retrate– me produce arcadas. El artista lo es porque puede representar emociones gracias a su talento artístico. Los más buenos, además de ser muy disciplinados, suelen enfrentarse a retos y postulados de gran complejidad que desarrollan amparados en su inteligencia e ingenio. Pero en estas simplonas demostraciones de decadencia no hay ni oficio ni imaginación. De no tener lugar en espacios artísticos tan consagrados como lo son muchos museos, recintos feriales o galerías, serían vistos como actos de mendicidad o enajenación. Desgastan el ajado entretejido del arte contemporáneo y se mofan del espectador más profano. La intervención, como la performance, es efímera e intras- cendente. Busca la convocatoria, pero no perdura, y no es raro ver alguna de sus erupciones tomada como acto de gamberrismo por parte de la policía a menos que goce de la protección de algún organismo público que justifique el absurdo. Me pregunto cómo se gestionaría una muchedumbre de «instalacioneros» campando y retozando a sus anchas por los más variopintos espacios públicos, dejándose llevar por su imaginación. Al fin y al cabo, para autodenominarse artista nadie te exige un título. Luisa Noriega 19