‘The Democratic Skylight’ opens in Madrid
‘The Democratic Skylight’ opened today, Friday 24 March, at the La Arquería exhibition hall in Nuevos Ministerios, Madrid, in the presence of figures from the cultural and academic spheres. The exhibition will be open to the public from 24 March to 23 July 2023.
The exhibition offers a critical review of the relationships between politics, violence and democratic memory throughout contemporary Spanish history. It is organised by the Ministry of the Presidency and coordinated by Mercedes Serrano, Diana Jiménez and Almudena Cruz, with Germán Labrador Méndez, professor at Princeton University, acting as curator.
The title of the exhibition, The Skylight, pays tribute to the acclaimed play premiered in 1967 by Antonio Buero Vallejo. The Skylight presents a science-fiction journey between two eras: post-war Spain and the 25th century.
The exhibition includes a piece of graffiti that formed part of the walls of the Monastery of Oia, where some of the more than 5,000 Republican prisoners held between 1937 and 1939 wrote about their realities and dreams. During that period, prisoners from northern Spain arrived at the monastery—mainly Asturians, Cantabrians and Basques in the early years, and Catalans, Valencians and Majorcans in the final months of the Civil War.
The current owners of the Monastery of Oia discovered these graffiti inscriptions in a state of total neglect upon taking possession of the site. In an initial phase, the roof was repaired, the writings were photographed and filmed, and oral testimonies were gathered from local women in Oia who experienced that period as children. Subsequently, following submission of the technical project to the Directorate General for Heritage of the Xunta de Galicia and under its supervision, more than 1,500 hours of work were invested by a specialised team in their extraction and restoration. The 18th-century refectory was also adapted so that part of these writings can be visited as part of guided tours, which have been organised for years at the only Cistercian monastery on the seafront. This recovery work on historical memory, its enhancement and public display is considered the most significant of its kind undertaken in Galicia, and a benchmark project in Spain.
Graffiti loaned to the exhibition ‘The Democratic Skylight’
The request for one of the pieces by the organising bodies and the exhibition’s curatorial team highlights the value of the recovery work being carried out on multiple levels since 2005, without any public funding, while efforts continue towards the full restoration of the monastery despite ongoing challenges. This endeavour has recently received recognition in Spain and across Europe. It is a project that reaches the public through guided visits, talks, concerts, an annual award granted to figures with a profound impact on history and the territory, and through publications by the Serra da Groba publishing house.
From 3 April onwards, the monastery will reopen its doors, marking the start of its 2023 cultural programme.
