In recent weeks, the Russian artist Andrei Molodkin has shrunk the heart of the art world with the announcement that he will destroy sixteen works by greats such as Picasso, Rembrant, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Warhol if Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, dies. in prison. He guards them inside a strong room equipped with a remote control mechanism that, if the news broke, would cause a chemical reaction that would turn the paintings into waste in a matter of hours. The action, titled Dead man's switch, has had the collaboration of collectors and artists, who have donated their works to the cause. Among them is the Spaniard Santiago Sierra, (Madrid, 58 years old), author among others of the controversial Political Prisoners in Contemporary Spain, the installation that in 2018 was removed from the Arco fair in an act of censorship that he then described as “ anachronistic and exotic.” Sierra responds via email.
What work have you donated for Molodkin's project?
I can't say, if Assange is released you will see it, if not it will never be exhibited.
What does the figure of Julian Assange represent for you?
Julian faces up to 175 years in prison for publishing true and verifiable information of public interest. The United States is looking for Assange for publishing US government documents that exposed war crimes and human rights abuses in 2010. This man should be built a monument, not sent to prison. He represents living proof that reality is pursued and the single story prevails. Freedom of expression has been limited to deciding how we prefer to applaud this absurd regime.
How do you assess the response that is being given from the world of culture to the Assange case?
Being a dissident in the West means social death, silence. There is a canapé McCarthyism, blacklists... everything to maintain a single discourse and whoever moves does not appear in the photo. That is the world of culture today. The Titanic Orchestra. Journalism should be very angry too because it is one of them. The silences are very eloquent.
Molodkin has declared that the destruction of art is a great taboo while people's lives seem to mean nothing. Does he agree that art seems to matter more than life?
Representation before what is represented. It sounds strange but that's how it is. How much is a Picasso worth and how much is the life of a dead Afghan stranger like in a video game? On this planet the answer is clear. The military industry has taken over everything and its business is the administration of death. The other day they gave the Prado Museum as a picnic area for leaders of NATO countries and in another nearby museum their consorts posed in front of Gernika so calmly. Everyone uses art to wash the poisonous face of global terror. A painting can't do anything against a nuclear missile
When or in what situation would the destruction of a work of art be justified?
For saving a life, for example that of Assange.
Some critics see Molodkin's threat of destruction as little more than a banal trick. What would I say to them?
No, no, it has a real mechanism that will destroy the contents of the safe irremediably and forever. He would tell them that they don't know Andrei.
Throughout his career he has experienced episodes of censorship, some as notorious as Political Prisoners in Contemporary Spain. Is freedom of expression in decline?
There is a state of panic from ancient global imperialism against the modern multipolar world. From the West the world is falling apart but from China there has never been such a promising future. This fear of collapse has resurrected monsters among citizens and among the members of the culture closest to real power. Now we are not tolerant. Anyone who says something unauthorized is silenced, game over. A work like the one I have developed for decades is now unacceptable. The algorithm that shows you only what you like and hides the rest creates the feeling that we are all in agreement. A dictatorship without tears.
