“Fabián Salvioli (Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence), Aua Baldé (Rapporteur of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances), and Morris Tidball-Binz (Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions) signed a strongly worded report urging Spain to take the necessary measures against the so-called “laws of concord,” which, among other things, avoid and/or fail to mention or condemn the Francoist regime—contributing to the promotion of revisionist or denialist narratives about the Civil War and the dictatorship“.*

It doesn’t matter when, where, or under what pretense or contextual excuse—we continue to expose the necessity of remembering. A memento for the dead. For those murdered, forgotten, disappeared, tortured; for the vulnerable, the exiled, the displaced…

In his Theses on the Philosophy of History, Walter Benjamin offers a critical perspective on memory and history, warning that official narratives are written by the victors, leaving victims and the defeated in oblivion. According to Benjamin, every document of civilization is also a document of barbarism, and it is our duty to rescue from obscurity the silenced voices erased by violence and oppression.

Theodor Adorno argues that reified consciousness is a factor that enables extreme forms of barbarism, and that our society fosters this type of consciousness. Through the intrinsic values of education, we might find a path toward individual and social transformation:

– The autonomy of the individual and self-determination through reflective thought
– Active opposition to barbarism, to avoid falling into complicit silence (affectivity in the face of barbarism)

Both thinkers remind us: the past cannot be left behind without consequences.

This brief exhibition at EL LOCAL evokes Klee’s Angelus Novus—its horrified gaze, breathless mouth, outstretched wings. The Angel of History. The artists explore the act of remembering as a way to counter the violence of forgetting: the victims’ final defeat. These works affirm a commitment that must remain continuous and conscious.

* EL PAÍS. Brussels supports “the promotion of historical memory” through laws that PP and VOX seek to repeal. Silvia Ayuso. Brussels, Aug 21, 2024.
Consignas, Theodor W. Adorno. Education after Auschwitz;
Education for Emancipation, Theodor W. Adorno. Education for Overcoming Barbarism

“Stones in Flight” by José Luis Lozano (Spain)

Lozano’s installation, Stones in Flight, confronts the viewer with images capturing the desperation of survival. Two opposing photographs show, on one side, people feeding on sugarcane in a desperate act of self-preservation; on the other, devastated sugarcane fields, marked by the footprints of those fleeing. Sugarcane becomes a symbol of both life and destruction. The “stones” are remnants of personal histories—markers of memories resisting erasure. Each step in flight etches a trace of resistance and survival.

“43 Disappeared of Ayotzinapa” by Emiliano Reyes (Mexico)

Reyes’ work on the 43 disappeared students of Ayotzinapa materializes collective memory in each young man’s face. It is more than a tribute—it is a silent accusation against indifference and impunity. These images uncover what has been suppressed, using the power of portraiture to demand justice and visibility. Foregrounded are the absences and gazes of 43 futures that were erased. A silent scream. An open wound.

“The Other Face” by Cristóbal Espinosa (Chile)

Espinosa’s piece, based on the repeated hammering of a Chilean 100-peso coin bearing the image of a Mapuche woman, symbolizes the silent violence of cultural erasure and assimilation. Hypnotic and repetitive, it methodically effaces the face on the coin. Espinosa forces us to confront the hypocrisy behind this apparent celebration of indigenous culture—is this a new form of domination? So too must memory work be: continuous and critical.

“Krematorium” by Miquel García (Spain)

In his performance Krematorium, García uses fire to reveal the names of Spanish Republicans murdered in Nazi concentration camps—subverting the original act and its intent. Fire becomes not just a means to uncover the truth, but a symbol of purification and remembrance. The site of García’s performance re-creates a sense of refuge and permanence.

Text by: Joana Groba