Sweet Dreams of a Better Life
Sweet Dreams of a Better Life: Historiographic Lies, Ethical Betrayals and Political Disasters Committed by the Spectacle of a Neoliberal, Monarchical Democratic Regimen against a Historical Memory That Resists Sleeping in the Peace of the Ditches: Composed of 13 panels covered with photographic and screen prints, this project was inspired by the historic series by Francisco de Goya, Los desastres de la Guerra [The Disasters of War] (1810-1815); Pablo Picasso, Songe et mensonge de Franco [The dream and lie of Franco] (1937); Luis Seoane, 13 estampas de la traición [Thirteen pictures of treason] (1937) and Josep Renau, Declaración de principios del Gobierno de la República Española [Statement of principles of the Government of the Spanish Republic] (1938). All these historical works were produced with the aim of offering a forceful portrait of their epoch in crisis oscillating between carnivalesque distortion, popular realism, oneiric representation and programmatic declaration. Sweet dreams of a better life also incorporates a tapestry of quotations and references that range from Max Aub to Sigmund Freud, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz to Guy Debord. The German philosopher Ernst Bloch originally considered the title Dreams of a Better Life for his monumental work The Principle of Hope, which he began writing during his exile in 1938, after fleeing National Socialism. More information about the complete work: https://marceloexposito.net/dulces-suen%cc%83os-de-una-vida-mejor/
Luis Seoane Foundation Collection, A Coruña. Courtesy of the Àngels barcelona gallery.