Muslims praying in a sports center, Barcelona, 2002

The form of the group is our collective language, and the position of bodies carries more eloquent messages than words themselves. The recreation of Leonardo’s last dinner in the Basque Country or Israel takes the evangelical scene to harsh stages, and gives historical depth to the fresco; for its part, the high relief of Mel Gibson’s passion moves – like the line in front of Mao’s monument – in opposite direction to the flows of the century: a time full of catastrophes which has seeked shelter in sports or trivial games. The leading role of the group is shown also in political activism, where messages are no longer composed with the typography of the press or symbolic constructions, but with the naked bodies that today shape slogans against war as in other times they fostered it with gymnastic dances of ethnic pride. There is a long distance between the West mesmerized by spectacle and the East prostrated by religion; but when the resilient crisis of the Third World begins to show on the first one, there is hope for a hygienic reaction to regenerate this wild planet, where the children of Uganda take refuge in the cities at night like the adult New Yorkers endure a blackout, searching for mutual support in the defenseless bodies...[+]