AVELINO SALA’S GREATEST EMERGENCY

Avelino Sala has been described as a “politically resistant” and “socially committed” artist who “critiques state power and control.” However, contrary to other political artists, he does not believe art can radically change the world as much as help us question and understand those structures of power that condition our lives. These are our greatest emergencies, that is, those emergencies which are absent from our spiritual predicament. As we will see, international politics has always been central for Spanish artists, whose installations, sculptures, and collages rescue us into our greatest political, corporate, and state emergencies. But what are these great emergencies and why is he rescuing us “in” them? Shouldn’t we be rescued “from” emergencies instead?

We live in an age where the greatest emergencies are the ones we ignore, overlook, and disregard – such as climate change, global surveillance, and political impasses – and are, therefore, the most urgent. The “state of emergency” of the 20^th century has been transformed into a condition of “absent emergencies” in the 21^st century. This does not entail, for example, that the Coronavirus, the war in Ukraine, or the recent internet outage that caused millions of computers to crash repeatedly, causing problems for airlines, banks, hospitals, and government globally, were not fundamental emergencies that we shouldn’t have confronted at all levels.

The problem is that they were great or absent emergencies not long ago. While the World Health Organization, as well as scientists such as David Quammen, warned us for years that the threat of a pandemic virus was imminent; John Mearsheimer, Pepe Escobar, and many other political scientists and journalists also foresaw the invasion if NATO continued to pressure Russia; and cybersecurity experts are constantly warning us the worst internet outage is just around the corner if we don’t build a more resilient infrastructure. The more absent an emergency is from our spiritual predicament, the greater it is. But doesn’t this greatness also imply a higher level of salvation if we begin to confront them?

Great emergencies entail a danger that can also save us. This is why Friedrich Hölderlin’s renowned verse, “But where the danger is, also grows the saving power,” was not simply meant to draw us close to danger but also to acknowledge the danger ignoring it entails. The goal of art in the 21^st century is to rescue us into this danger, that is, those emergencies we tend to disregard as they often concern our existence as climate change, gender violence, and the return of authoritarian leaders. Sala’s interest is not limited to disclose these emergencies but also to reveal their meaning as the gold-plated baseball bats and hammers with different flag grips that symbolize key global powers such as Russia, the United States, and the EU.

These nations’ internal and international violence is absent from their flags, that is, the identity and values they represent. If Sala rescues us into state violence with these combat bats, it’s not simply for turning sports equipment into a repressive tool but also for drawing us closer to the danger that defines these nations.

The sculpture composed of riot shields is probably Sala’s best example of one of the greatest emergencies that condition our lives: the United Nations Security Council’s structural failure to uphold international peace. The riot shields represent the permanent member’s veto power, that is, their commitment to sustaining great emergencies. Although this device appears to be merely defensive, in reality, it is one of immediate response and forceful control against those who oppose their interests. This is why each one has clear signs of resistance, as the color of thrown objects on them proves.

Sala’s installation is meant to rescue us into this council’s inability to maintain international peace, as the current wars in Ukraine and Palestine demonstrate. Just as resolutions condemning Russia’s attack on Ukraine always fail – 11 Security Council members voted yes, but Russia vetoed – so do the ones that call for “humanitarian pauses in Israel’s bombing of Gaza” – with the United States opposing them.

The powerful countries that designed the U.N. also designed it to ensure they could always prevent any U.N. actions from putting conditions on their own interests and holding them accountable for their actions. The United Nations Security Council structure was agreed upon in San Francisco in 1945. It has 15 countries: ten are rotating members, elected by the U.N. General Assembly and serving on the council for two years, and five are permanent members: the U.S., Russia, France, the U.K., and China (whose seat was held by Taiwan until 1971).

If any permanent members – essentially the victors in World War II – veto a resolution, it will not pass, no matter how many votes are in favor. The U.N.’s charter gives the Security Council “primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security” — anything involving war. Although there have recently been renewed discussions at the General Assembly to end permanent member’s veto power – France and Mexico proposed that the five powers “voluntarily and collectively suspend the use of the veto in cases of mass atrocities” – the chances of reform are slim. If the greatest emergency is the absence of emergency, Security Council UN /Instalacion reveals the structural failure of the only international organization responsible for preserving peace.

Avelino Sala, Russia as a Hammer, 2019 & Europe as a Hammer, 2018. Chromed hammer and overgrips framed, 46,5 x 32,5 x 5 cm. Courtesy: ADN Galería.

Sala is not alone in rescuing us into great emergencies. Several artists – such as Beverly Fishman, Josh Klein, and Diane Burko, among others – will rescue us into other great emergencies in The Greatest Emergency exhibition this fall based on an old book of mine: Why Only Art Can Save Us: Aesthetics and the Absence of Emergency (Columbia University Press). At the Circulo de Bellas Artes of Madrid, great emergencies such as climate change, gender violence, and state violence will be disclosed to draw us closer to the danger and salvation they entail. Something Sala does impeccably throughout his sculptures, installations, and paintings.