Where are we now? I am standing looking into a large (3m x 3m) square glass cabinet. Inside there is a huge human skull looking out. At me? No, it is not looking directly out at me, it is looking to one side.
The skull is a monumental semi-relief plasticine construction made by the Mondongo (“tripe stew”) Collective of Buenos Aires. It comes from one of the shanty towns ( = Villa Miseria in Argentina).
The skull sits on a table part in shadow, part in light, and invites me to look more closely. At its base, the neck and lower jaw, is the slum city, the Villa Miseria, “unplanned settlements” which are of course supporting the rest of the structure. The teeth are an astronomical number of fictitious money. In the nasal passage two sinister hooded figures dispense – what?- alcohol, drugs or dreams, or who knows what. Below them on the the upper lip a pale woman lies wrapped in a white sheet while a child attempts to find one of her nipples. The nose itself is a large bath plug on which sits a yellow rubber duck
Books, books, and more books cover the skull’s cheeks; Les Miserables, Naomi Klein, La Commedia (Dante himself also fills one of the eye sockets), Plato, etc, etc. Higher still on the dome of the skull is a great plastic stewing baroque world of cities, revellers, and steaming riches. I look even closer and see that it is all on fire. I recognise the Kremlin, and the White House. A mosque stands next to a central bank and an Italian Renaissance cathedral.
The devil sits in a dead tree. A long gold chain links him to a cross on a hill. Hansel and Gretel walk towards the candy sweet house where the wicked witch awaits them.
Beside me on another side there is a four year old boy and his mother. “LOOK AT THE SCHCKULL, IT’S MADE OF PEOPLE”, the boy tells his mother.
The skull is partisan. It has taken sides. Photography is not permitted, nor is it possible to copy online images, except that it is with a little partizan persistence. It is encased, Calavera, and it is made of people.