From Franco in a Coca-Cola fridge to Felipe VI’s ninot: Arco, the fair of all controversies

1983. Manuel, a homoerotic nude

After being bought by the Tate, the work was returned to its author, the cartoonist Rodrigo, who portrayed a lover who did not reciprocate. He remained for months in Barajas, waiting for someone to pay the 600,000 pesetas that his storage cost. Rodrigo, who did not have the money, told the warehouse manager the history of the work. Touched, he allowed her to take her away.

1984. The fires, dead dog stink

Wolf Vostell’s installation made up of seven dead dogs provoked, in addition to a strong stench, misunderstanding among animalists, who were unable to accept that those animals symbolized, according to the artist, “nature that never stops killing itself.” In fact, Vostell loved the dogs so much that he named them after masters like Velázquez or Picasso.

1990. Eva & Adele came from the future

Hermaphroditic twins, with extravagant costumes and makeup, Eva & Adele landed at Arco (and at many other fairs) assuring that they came from a future “where gender has disappeared”. Thirty years after landing, they are still the most photographed celebrities at fairs and their source of creation is the snapshots taken of them by fans.

1995. Fear and disgust in Madrid

Isidoro Valcárcel Medina handed out envelopes at the entrance of Arco with what looked like invitations to the fair. The sender was the American Security Council (ASCO) and inside was a typed text: “Dear friend. I am pleased to send you, in these special days, model No. 16 of the series For the acronym of the acronym”. In 1995, the United States was the guest country.

2003. Bill Viola and the anxiety of war

In a climate of anti-war and unease, two days before the start of the Iraq war, Bill Viola brought to the fair observation, a video where a group of people took turns looking at something that could not be seen, but that caused them deep anxiety. For the work, of great technological virtuosity, Viola took as a reference the diptych of the four apostles, of Dürer.

2005. The phenomenon of The two Fridas

In one of the best editions of the fair, there were crowds in front of the pavilion of the Government of Mexico, the guest country, to see the double self-portrait of Frida Kahlo: in one, the artist wears the colorful Tehuana outfit, and in the other, the typical white lace Victorian suit, the European version that her husband, Diego Rivera, liked least. It was quite an event.

2012. Franco in a Coca-Cola fridge

Eugenio Merino’s piece was made up of a hyper-realistic doll that represented General Franco inside a Coca-Cola fridge. It was sold to a Belgian collector for 30,000 euros and cost the author a lawsuit from the Francisco Franco Foundation for outrage against the memory of the dictator, which was dismissed. In 2010, Merino had already exasperated the religious with Stairway to Heaven, with a priest, a rabbi and an imam on top of each other like castellers.

2015. The glass half full (or half empty)

This piece by Wilfredo Prieto, valued at 20,000 euros, was simply a glass of water half full (or half empty, depending on the day) placed on a shelf. “It is a very democratic work, and its theme is the market, supply and demand,” said the NoguerasBlanchard gallery. “What gives it value is its certificate with the conditions in which it is installed and the author’s signature. If someone steals the glass, I put another one.” The irony is that it happened a century after Duchamp’s urinal.

2018. The forbidden art of Santiago Sierra

For the first time in the history of Arco, its executive committee ordered a work to be taken down: Political prisoners in contemporary Spain, by Santiago Sierra. A buyer immediately appeared, the Catalan businessman Tatxo Benet, who bought it for 80,000 euros. It is currently part of the collection of the Museum of Forbidden Art, which will open its doors this spring at the Casa Garriga Nogués, in Barcelona.

2019. Burn after shopping

A ninot that represented Felipe VI, the work of Santiago Sierra and Eugenio Merino, was sold for 200,000 euros under the commitment to burn it in a public act. There was no buyer and it seems that the only one who did his job well was the material author, the Fallas artist Manolo Martín. It finally burned in Berga (Barcelona), on Hispanic Day 2020.

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