‘linea de 250 cm tatuada sobre seis personas remuneradas’

’250cm line tattooed on six paid people’

Espacio Aglutinador Havana December 1999

Galerie Peter Kilchmann Zurich

In 1999, Spanish artist Santiago Sierra paid six unemployed young men in Cuba to take part in one of his installation pieces. The men were offered $30 each to participate, and stripped to their shorts to become a part of another of Sierra’s human experiments, this time in the Espacia Aglutinador, Havana’s oldest art space. And their job? To go under the needle. Sierra had the men tattooed – one straight, horizontal line reaching across each of their backs.

A line-up of young, able warriors symbolically inked for social battle.

Haider Ackermann chose the above image of this politically astute exhibition for A#3, covering a double spread with the photo. The effect of the tattoo may be somewhat overlooked, yet when noticed and fully understood, the artistic statement comments so powerfully on the beautiful and stark contrasts in cultural mindset of different peoples, which can allow (or force) young men such as these to be subject to permanent branding for minimal payment, and for the viewing pleasure and intellectual stimulation of educated peoples elsewhere.