L'Internationale statement in support of the decision to open "La Bestia y el soberano" (The Beast and the Sovereign)

The current crisis In MACBA around the La Bestia y el soberano (The Beast and the Sovereign) exhibition demonstrates again how the image, provocative or even crude, is a powerful force to break open and understand the limits of representation and the pains of social discord. It is the complex craft of contemporary cultural institutions to negotiate this important force, especially in a time of political and economic crisis when tolerance is low. The diverse and conflicting effects of artworks are never black or white, but institutions cannot avoid to make binary decisions on what to show and what not. There is no protocol for making these complex choices, but the leading principle should be to strengthen the civil community in its endless exchange between majorities and minorities. L'Internationale will therefore always defend the critical imagination of art as a catalyst in strengthening the notions of participative citizenship and democracy through the civic institutions.