Santiago Sierra:1st Seizure at MARCO

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Beginning on May 1st, the opening date of the exhibition by Santiago Sierra (Madrid, 1966) at MARCO, the spaces of the former courthouse and prison building have been transformed with the installation of 54 cement breakwater tetra-pods in the galleries on the main floor. The tetra-pods and their disposition in convergent lines act as a reflection on the panoptic structure of the building.

As part of the project by the artist at MARCO the ‘Epilogue on police sensibility' titled, ‘Handing over the Exhibition Space to the Authorities for the Announcement and Demonstration of Confiscated Goods', also has a direct relationship with the building's past as former courthouse and prison in Vigo. With this proposal by Santiago Sierra the museum allocates it's conference room to the National Police to announce and display seized goods throughout the year. Apart from historical bonds to the present activity in MARCO's building the artist intends to establish a formal parallelism, taking into account the police sensibility when classifying and showing seized objects in a similar way to that in which the museum shows art work in the exhibition spaces. These displays will be photographed by the artist as an appropriation to make an archive of the police activity during one year in our city.

"1st EPILOGUE
Handing over the Exhibition Space to the Authorities for the Announcement and Demonstration of Confiscated Goods
Former courthouse and prison building in Vigo, Spain / May 2009 - May 2010

The museum conference room will be transferred to the National Police for one year for the purpose of showing confiscated goods as they normally do. We are referring to any type of confiscated goods, ranging from weapons to clothing, drugs to falsified documents. It will simply be a transfer of the space. No attempt will be made to vary the way in which they announce or display the confiscated goods. Nor should the material be shown longer than necessary. The museum will collaborate fully by facilitating the agents with the elements needed for exhibiting the items, such as tables and lights, in addition to the infrastructure needed for accommodating the press. In exchange, the authorities will allow me to photograph every confiscated article as conceptual appropriation. The year-long transfer will not entail a decrease in the other conference room activities. The confiscations that are to occur by surprise will presumably remain for a brief period of time alone. Nonetheless, the museum should be equally expeditious in taking down and putting up signs or other elements that may hamper the authorities."

Taking place on Thursday, May 14th at noon in the press conference members of the police authority displayed a set of weapons seized by the National Police Department in Vigo, which have been classified as follows: long range weapons; simulation long range weapons; simulation short range weapons; gadgets for violence robbery and theft; gases and flares; cold steel weapons; martial arts and brass knuckles; katana swords and large cold steel weapons; and blunt weapons.

After being exhibited, the seized material will be shown in MARCO's Conference Room throughout the weekend of Friday the 15th to Sunday the 17th from 11am to 9pm, i. e. the regular opening hours.