2004:Interventions

A pedestrian’s perspective

Fernando López Castillo

The aim of the project is to reveal to the spectator the qualities of equestrian sculpture which, due to its elevated position, is inaccessible to pedestrians –who are only able to see the sculptures of eminent people at street level when they are knocked down or exchanged for others.

Especially important is the statue of Philip IV in the Plaza de Oriente. City Authority personnel in charge of recent cleaning were amazed by the richness of the detail and invited the casting department of the Royal Academy of San Fernando to make moulds of the most significant parts. Moulds were made of the head and one leg of the horse, the king's gloves and other small details threatened with deterioration from pollution. 

Features and motifs -unknown and therefore uncatalogued- adorning the saddle and reins were discovered. The excellence, opulence and ostentation of the sculpting, chiselling and founding merit both the exhibition of the pieces and a reflection on the expression of power. 

The artwork displays the cast bronze fragments of the statue on a low platform, uses, moreover, the same popular strategies of pseudo-history or romantic ruins revived ad infinitum by postmodernity, and also attempts to encourage a continuous debate on imposed or desired heroes which historically have been eliminated and quickly substituted. Perspectiva ciudadana wishes to recover the ability to think as the essence of contemporary man.

Ubicación

Calle Gran Vía con Calle Alcalá.

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