The five senses or the total ‘performance’ of Holy Week | Understand + art contexts


Every year for Easter I am surprised by the fervor and emotion that some images, many of them made in the 16th and 17th centuries, or even earlier, continue to awaken in the population that congregates year after year to see and enjoy the processions. These images escape time and the moment in which they were conceived, moving feelings as they did in their origin throughout the European geography. Sculptures in relation to the Passion and death of Jesus are taken to the street, and the most interesting thing is that each area has its own way of feeling and living these steps. As Spaniards we know better the exaltation of Andalusia, the contrition of Zamora or the austerity of the processions from the north. Each one brings something different and peculiar, but deeply rooted in its tradition. From the “touch of mockery & rdquor; of the horn-cars of Murcia, at the “break of the hour & rdquor; of the drums of Bajo Teruel. But in other places, such as in neighboring Portugal, processions also go through its streets with emotion; as in the south of Italy, where for so many years they had the Hispanic influence through the viceroyalties. It has been seen the effectiveness of these “staging” that make the believer / viewer is immersed in a biblical episode with the intention of moving his spirit. He lives what happened, and feels what could have been. Art has known how to disturb the spirit and this was used with great profit by the Jesuits. Saint Ignatius, in his spiritual exercises, points to the importance of imagination to recreate the scene you were meditating on. Sculptures, paintings and other visual arts seek to facilitate this. If you also add music and recreation “living & rdquor; From many scenes, such as the Autos Sacramentales represented inside the churches in the most important festivals of the year, from Christmas to Easter, it is understood that all these resources have survived beyond the time in which they were created.

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Holy Week in Catholic lands becomes a total ‘performance’. Where the artist has been completely subverted to the interaction of his work with the public. It is no longer the ‘Prayer in the Garden’ by Francisco Salzillo in Murcia, or the ‘Camino del Calvario’ by Gregorio Fernández in Valladolid, or the ‘Christ of the Scourges’ by Mena, in Córdoba. The work comes out of its everyday setting to ‘live’ the movement of the people who carry it, the smell of the flowers that decorate it, the flickering light of the candles that reveals it and the music that surrounds it, along with the noise and the silence that moves Every Holy Week the same ritual, but always different. They are not the same people, they are not the same looks, they are not the same smells. It is the expression of total art.

The paradox of all this is that, for the narrowest minds, Holy Week is a conglomeration of rites with meaning for some devotees and that is only lived as an outdated tradition that has nothing to do with contemporary Man/Woman. Nevertheless, its staging and its experiential character is directly linked to any type of artistic recreation of the most avant-garde and transgressive galleries. Holy Week, regardless of where it takes place and its directly religious nature for many, is a ‘performance’ always open to circumstances, unforeseen events and people. Ultimately it is the artistic experience itself. The object, without a spectator, would not have that dimension. It is the one who looks at the one who gives transcendence and relevance to the work. He is the one who makes the work of art. For this reason, every Holy Week I see a total artistic immersion, where art merges with contemporary society and strengthens its ties with tradition, using the five senses for them. Well, even the special gastronomy of these days: torrijas, Easter cakes, or the “monas”, come to complete this experience of street art.


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