Sunday 29 November 2020

saturnin

Identified as one of the seventy-two disciples at the Last Supper—the image of the head table is the one we are most familiar with—Greek bishop and martyr dispatched by Pope Fabian, himself famously elected to office after a pigeon alighted on his head during the conclave, to Toulouse as one of the apostles to the Gauls to re-establish Christian communities after Emperor Decius ordered their dissolution, is venerated on this day on the occasion of his death in 257. Attributing the silence of their pagan oracles to the constant presence of this meddlesome priest—their altars at the capitol (le Capitole de Toulouse) passed by congregants daily on their way to the Christian church, they seized Saturninus, who refusing to sacrifice to their gods, tied him to a raging bull and to be dragged through the streets until the rope broke. A similar fate befell one of Saturnin’s pupils, Saint Fermin, who died in Pamplona. Symbolically this martyrdom is an inversion of the mysteries of the cult of Mithras, involving the ritual slaughtering of a bull. Called tauroctony, and this tautology thereof is enshrined in many of the names of streets, squares and churches of Toulouse.

Friday 27 November 2020

aurora borealis shining down in dallas

Via Nag on the Lake, we are directed towards the musical stylings of Italo-Hiberno Pop performers Adriano Celentano and Raffaella Carrร  (previously) with their 1974 club hit Prisencolinensinainciusol (see also), whose lyrics are nonsense words meant to sound like English meant to prove that audience would embrace anything catchy and with a good beat. The accompanying video (updated with a fortieth anniversary retrospective) is pretty epic as well.

Friday 20 November 2020

20-n

A fateful date similar to Schicksalstag, the above is a symbolic abbreviation of employed to denote a range of events that occurred on this day for Spain. In the first year of the civil war, founder of the fascist party Falange Espaรฑola Josรฉ Antonio Primo de Rivera was put to death in Alicante on 20 November 1936 but was later idealised and venerated by the Francoist dictatorship. Thirty-nine years later to the day, in 1975, Generalรญsimo Francisco Franco (*1892). Like its German equivalent, the day is eschewed in the main to avoid associations but a 2011 general election fell on this date as did the assassination of Basque nationalists in 1984 and 1989.

Thursday 8 October 2020

7x7

blood pudding: British public reject Magnus Pike’s (see previously) modest proposal as taboo  

urban jungle: artist employs banana fibre cocoons for the Milan of our over-heated future  

a fungus among us: Public Domain Review explores fungi, folklore and fairyland

object lesson: a 1937 experiment with remote learning to contain a polio outbreak 

those speedy clouds: Alvin and the Chipmunks cover Phil Glass’ Koyaanisqatsi—see previously  

maybe i’m immune: James Corden performs a soulful parody of the Paul McCartney ballad 

 the cask of amontillado: Spanish navy upholding tradition of ageing wine at sea, transporting a buttload of sherry around the world

Friday 25 September 2020

telekino

Prolific inventor and Esperanto advocate Leonardo Torres y Quevedo (*1852 – †1936), probably best remembered for his Aerocar that is still in use for ferrying passengers above Niagara Falls, was responsible for a whole string of innovations across several disciplines including an analytic machine in the style of Babbage’s difference engine though utilising electromagnetic components rather than mechanical ones, improved designed for dirigibles, a chess-playing automaton (El Ajedrecista) and perhaps most significantly was a pioneer in the field of remote control. On this day in 1906 in the port of Bilbao in front of a royal audience and many other spectators, Torres-Quevedo made a public demonstration of his experimental radio-controlled robot—called Telekino—in the form of a boat that he guided from shore. King Alphonso XIII also was given a turn guiding the boat with passengers at distance.

Monday 21 September 2020

empire shops

Though the above euphemism for a colonial goods store (ultramarinos, comptoir des colonies, coloniali), a nineteenth century speciality retailer that sold non-perishable items like coffee, tea, spices, tobacco, etc. as opposed to butchers, bakers and green-grocers, has fortunately fallen out of common-parlance, retained through the 1970s when most former colonies were achieving independence, it is still present, fossilised in some unexpected places, like in the name of our local chain supermarket, an affiliate of the large co-op Edeka, founded in 1898 as E.d.K.—that is, Einkaufsgenossenschaft der Kolonialwarenhรคndler im Halleschen Torbezirk zu Berlin (Purchasing Cooperative for the Traders of Colonial Wares of the Halle Gate District of Berlin), phonetically abbreviated (see also) out of necessity.

Wednesday 9 September 2020

infinite cantabria

Local artist Okuda San Miguel has recently finishing turning the iconic Faro de Ajo into a vibrant celebration of the Santander community and the larger region that the painter and sculptor hails from. Built just in 1985 to safeguard the cape, the town council commissioned San Miguel to make the landmark as unique and diverse as the landscape. Peruse a whole gallery of images at Design Boom and discover more in the artist’s portfolio at the links above.

Thursday 13 August 2020

saint cassian of imola, pray for us

Fourth century tutor and teacher, Cassian—whose martyrdom is venerated on this day (†303), refused to make sacrifices to the gods of the Romans—as was ordered by Emperor Julian the Apostate (the epithet a gift of the church he distrusted)—and so was turned over to his pupils, judging that their education and emendation should be an effective prescriptive. Cassian was bound to a stake and the students tortured him to death, stabbing him with their pointed styluses—eager to get revenge for the punishments and trials that their teacher had inflicted on them. This act is recounted in several contemporary cultural sources including the Annie Dillard novel The Living, John Kennedy Toole’s Confederacy of Dunces and the namesake of a teachers’ lounge at the Bethel College of Liberal Arts in Kansas and the parable open to interpretation. Cassian is the patron of the commune of Bologna, Mรฉxico City, Las Galletas in Tenerife as well as educators, stenographers and parish clerks.

Saturday 25 July 2020

cuckoo for cucuphas

Despite the Phoenician name meaning “he who likes to joke,” we could find little humour in the hagiography of the saint venerated on this day in France and Spain (though some places postponed until 27 July due to the feast of his compatriot Saint James, the Santiago).
From a wealthy merchant family in Carthage, Cucuphas (*269 – †304) travelled to Barcelona to find converts and aid the Christian community through trade and commerce, gaining a reputation as charitable and a miracle worker. Martyred during the Diocletian persecutions, Cucuphas and his companions were imprisoned by the Roman governor of Iberia, whom unwisely ordered him tortured to prolong his death since the succession of torments backfired through heavenly intervention. The saint was finally dispatched with the coup de grรขce of a sword to the throat. Though the association is lost to the ages, Cucuphas is the patron of those suffering from kyphosis (hunchbacks) and petty thieves—and there is a folk practise, arising presumably from the litany of tortures he endured, of praying to the saint for the return of misplaced belongings—symbolically making knots in handkerchief that represent the testicles of the Cucuphas and threatening not to untie them until the lost object is found.

Monday 20 July 2020

saint wilgefortis

Though officially delisted from the martyrology of saints in the late sixteenth century and her veneration suppressed, the iconography of and devotions to the bearded saint—whose English name is thought to have derived from the Latin for courageous virgin but goes by many others (see previously)—are still to be found to the present age and is feted on this day.
Also going by Uncumber, Ontkommer (Dutch), [ohne] Kรผmmernis (German), Liberata (Italian), Librada (Spain) and Dรฉbarras (good riddance in French), Wilgefortis symbolises the liberation or disencumberment from abusive relationships and is invoked for relief to that end. Historians speculate that her origins can be traced to androgynous depictions of Jesus but was embellished with her own story and cult in the 1420s in Galicia, with a noble woman not wanting to be forced into her arranged marriage and praying for a way out—and miraculous sprouted facial hair that made her repulsive to her betrothed. In iconographic depictions, Wilgefortis’ beard ranges from minimal to quite lush and substantial and is shown often crucified—sadly her fate for showing up and looking unpresentable—with a small fiddler at her feet, having given away her wedding dowry, represented by a silver shoe, to the poor.

Wednesday 24 June 2020

pienone

As a prelude to the opera house’s 2020/2021season, earlier this week the quartet on stage of Barcelona’s El Gran Teatre del Liceu played to a full house (pienone, casa llena), ever seat filled symbolically with over two thousand house plants as the kingdom ravaged by the coronavirus enacts its measured plans for reopening. Non-vegetal fans were able to tune in remotely via live-stream and the plants donated by local florists and garden centres will be presented as gifts to front-line workers. This is lovely.
The players’s selection of song was a fitting elegy, a threnody called Crisantemi that renowned composer Puccini created for his friend Amadeo (*1845 – †1890) upon his sudden and premature death. Duke of Aosta, Amadeo was elected as king of Spain during that land’s interregnum, but frustrated by politics and intrigues two years into his reign, He declared the people of Spain to be ungovernable, abdicated and returned to Italy for a quieter life. Spain was a republic for a brief period afterwards. His son via his second marriage, Umberto, Count of Salemi, died during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic.

Wednesday 3 June 2020

bandersnatch

Doubting that their audience would have the appetite for any more dystopian vignettes that depict the hollowing out and collapse of societies, the showrunners of Black Mirror (previously) had announced weeks ago a hiatus for the show. As reality is already starting to feel like an episode, however implausible and with writing not up to their usual standards, the network has put out an advertising installation inviting one to experience the next series, anytime, anywhere—though not the message, running the campaign in Madrid seems particularly tone-deaf and insensitive. I’ve been feeling all our pop culture training with apocalyptic and zombie movies have failed us and haven’t made nimbler and wiser in the face of multiple calamities.

Friday 1 May 2020

all i wanna do is zooma zoom zoom

Concluding a series of inspired, motivational numbers as alternatives for when one is unable to make it to the club, Messy Nessy Chic reprises her earlier re-discovery of the Spanish disco dance troupe with this 1977 performance of their “Cats” routine. We are feeling rather enlightened and better for having missed this sensation before and having encountered Ballet Zoom when the time was ripe and we were ready for it. 

The company was formed in 1973 as Ballet New Generation and comprised a cosmopolitan collection of performers from all over the world and were invited to make an appearance on the variety show ¡Seรฑoras y seรฑores! (their debut pictured) and were rebranded in deference to the director’s bold and liberal use of zooms and pans that was a bit jarring for television and subsequently became a regular segment. Next up, their 1978 video for “Salem’s Witch.”

Friday 28 February 2020

and in flew enza

Via the always interesting Nag on the Lake, we’re directed towards a hauntingly resonant gallery of images from over a century ago that speaks to current times.
These people don face masks to, per instruction of public health authorities, as a first line defence against contagion and spreading the particularly deadly strain of influenza of 1918. We had known that it was spread in an especially pernicious manner by the reintegration of millions of soldiers and displaced populations but hadn’t before questioned why it was popularly known as the Spanish Flu. Neutral Spain (epidemiological records of the time were insufficient to geographically source the outbreak) had no troops fighting in the Great War and therefore no morale to maintain, and unlike British, French, German, Canadian or US outlets, the Spanish press was free to report on the pandemic and the unsuppressed news from Spain forged the connection in the public’s mind (relatedly) since the prevalence seemed especially bad there. Much more at the links above.

Sunday 12 January 2020

la residencia

First shown in theatres on this day in 1970 after twelve-months of production and with the titles The House that Screamed and The Boarding School for foreign markets, Narciso Ibรกรฑez Serrador’s set the standard for Spanish Gothic horror and was quite a commercial success.  A nineteenth century French home for troubled, wayward girls experiences a series of sinister-seeming but rather innocuously explained (given the administration and the character of their charges) away disappearances, only with the denouement revealing that the head-mistress’ (portrayed by highly accomplished German/Hollywood actress Lilli Palmer, whom despite having passed in 1986 has a final credit in the 2018 Orson Welles’ experimental The Other Side of the Wind made finally after considerable delays) overbearing manner had spillover effects for her son she was raising as a single-mother, passing on to him unrealistic expectations of the ideal woman that he deserved.

Friday 16 August 2019

relaciones geogrรกficas

In order to have a better insight into the distant and vast domain that his conquistadors took by force, King Felipe II of Spain, Portugal, Naples and the Two Sicilies commissioned bureaucrats in the 1580s to produce a land survey through a fifty topic questionnaire to solicit descriptions of cities and settlements from the indigenous population.
Their responses came in the form of detailed manuscripts that told the history of their home towns and assigned by one question to visually describe their municipality, those polled answered with these fantastic maps and charts that captured geographical details as well as natural resources. Much more to explore with the intrepid adventurers at Atlas Obscura at the link above.

Tuesday 9 July 2019

minimal republics

As part of an on-going series called “Stupid Borders,” Nag on the Lake introduces us to the work of artist and activist Rubรฉn Martรญn de Lucas who cordoned off several one-hundred square metre parcels of land on the outskirts of Madrid and lived in then for a full day in order to underscore the very abstract and othering concept of national boundaries. Dangerous and deluded as such ideas may be, it is worth reflecting on how the accruing of the unreal—be it faith in a fiat currency or any type of self-interested association, has the fate of civilisation and the world entire hinging on it.

Sunday 7 July 2019

calpe mons

In response to a constitutional convention held regarding the promontory’s sovereignty and continued allegiance to the British crown—affirmed by a referendum of Gibraltarians not to become a condominium, Francisco Franco closed the land border with Spain on this day in 1969, stopping ferry services and cutting utilities. The border would not be fully open with egress and ingress restored until 1985. The near unanimity of the 1967 vote to remain an overseas territory is mirrored by the Gibraltar’s strong rejection of Brexit and the contention Spain’s own disputes with Morocco over its exclaves on the Africa side of the straits, Monte Hancho in Ceuta being the complimentary Pillar of Hercules.

Wednesday 29 May 2019

still life with portion control

A Valencia-based design studio and patron of the arts called Quarte Caps has commissioned the re-contextualising of iconic still life paintings, like this ostentatious cornucopia from Dutch Baroque artist Abraham Hendriksz van Beijeren (*1620 – †1690)—with the face of the artist in the original reflected in the silver decanter—in order like the first Delft school of painters executed pronkstillevens that highlighted the affectation and pretension of fine tableware to focus on the excessive and unnecessary packaging (see also) and shuttle diplomacy of convenience food, whose persistence changes the metaphor of the perishable. Can you see yourself in the plastic soda bottle? Learn more and peruse a larger gallery of “Not Longer Life” at the link above.

Monday 29 April 2019

throwing down the gauntlet

We’ve yet to see the concluding chapters of the Avengers’ franchise and only know of Death-Dealing Thanos (no spoilers, please) but have been exposed enough to the references and artefacts to appreciate the resemblance that the super villain’s glove has to this reliquary which holds the uncorrupted hand of Teresa of รvila (*1515 – †1582).
A noble woman whose Jewish ancestors were coerced to convert during the Spanish Inquisition, this Doctor of the Church was called to the monastic and contemplative life and after canonisation was a candidate for the patron saint of Spain—just edged out by James (Santiago de Zebedeo) and Catherine of Siena (whose Feast Day is coincidentally today). The well-travelled reformer succumbed to illness on the way to Alba de Tormes, just as most of Europe was switching from the Julian to Gregorian calendar so there’s some debate as to the time of her death and when to observe her Saint’s Day—15 October according to liturgical calendars, and her exumed body was dismembered and spread as relics to holy sites and the convents that she founded, her left eye and right hand going to Ronda in Andalusia, the later pictured next to the cinematic prop being kept by Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, sort of like the Lance of Longinus, until his death when the treasure was restored to the nunnery.