Angolo Stanco (hommage à la mort de Walter Benjamin)

2018
Metal, performer;
200x200x200 cm

A sculpture in the shape of a black metal corner welcomes a 78-year-old man or woman, the same number of years between now and the time of Walter Benjamin’s death in Portbou. When someone approaches the sculpture, the performer starts talking about Benjamin, when he was born and telling a bit about his life. The work is the concretization of a period between a specific past event, Benjamin’s death, and today. The anniversary celebration idea of a death is analyzed through its opposite: one life, that of the performer, that started when Benjamin died. The title refers to a founding element of architecture, the corner, that is tired like Benjamin when he decided to put an end to his life in Portbou. The sculpture is meant to change over time because for every year that goes by, the age of the performer in the corner increases, just like the time between Benjamin’s death and the present.