Santiago Sierra
Santiago Sierra, Veterans of the Wars of Afghanistan, Timor-Leste, Iraq and Vietnam Facing the Corner, 2013
Performed for Kaldor Public Art Project 27: 13 Rooms, curated by Klaus Biesenbach and Hans Ulrich Obrist, at Pier 2/3, Walsh Bay, Sydney, 11-21 April 2013
Santiago Sierra
born 1966 in Madrid, Spain
lives and works in Madrid, Spain
Veterans of the Wars of Afghanistan, Timor-Leste, Iraq and Vietnam Facing the Corner, 2013
The poetic and often confronting artworks of Santiago Sierra draw on the art historical tradition of using paid models as sculptures. Sierra commissions street workers, illegal immigrants, the unemployed and the dispossessed to test individual and social boundaries and expose social and cultural inequalities.
In 13 Rooms, Sierra presented Veterans of the Wars of Afghanistan, Timor-Leste, Iraq and Vietnam Facing the Corner, 2013, a durational work in which war veterans from varied past conflicts stand facing the corner within a five- by five-metre room. Silent and still, as if positioned in a military line, the performers only move from their post when replaced by another veteran, who solemnly steps in as if changing the guard.
Sierra’s work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions around the world. In 2003 he was selected to represent Spain at the 2003 Venice Biennale. In 2010 Sierra created Kaldor Public Art Project 22 at the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane.