Santiago Sierra: Films and Works

Hafnarhús

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The Spanish artist Santiago Sierra shocks people with his radical and provocative works that challenge the audience‘s sense of propriety. Sierra has been accused of abusing the miserable situation of less fortunate people by paying them for participating in his works with forms of compensation that many consider extremely problematic. Sierra‘s intention, however, is not to shock, but to shed light on the general public‘s ideas on inequality and the unfair distribution of wealth within the society.

He has remunerated prostitutes in heroin for having a line tattooed on their backs while sitting in a straight side-by-side. He has hired labourers to carry heavy objects back and forth in complete futility, and locked up others in cardboard boxes in the suffocating summer heat.

Sierra represented Spain at the Venice Biennale 2003, where no one except his countrymen were allowed to enter the exhibition hall. Sierra studied art, first in his hometown of Madrid and later in Hamburg, Germany. After finishing his studies he moved to Mexico, where he lived for 14 years and his attitude towards art and society was heavily influenced during that period. Sierra now lives and works in Madrid.

This is Sierra’s first international exhibition consisting entirely of documentaries and videos, and his impressive performances will also add flavour to daily life in Reykjavik during the run of the exhibition..