The Ajo lighthouse intervened by Okuda with his work 'Infinite Cantabria'
The first time the eye looks into a kaleidoscope, the optical effect guarantees the closest thing to astral travel without the need for hallucinogens . The secret is in the three mirrors inside the tube , which form a triangular prism and a play of light thanks to the strategic placement of translucent sheets and colored objects. A recurring trick in children's toys, which the Okuda street artist has led outside a lighthouse surrounded by cows grazing on the outskirts of the town of Ajo, in Cantabria.
Historically, headlights were, are and will be white. so they should be according to maritime navigation signaling that is clear and diaphanous . Concessions are accepted in the form of horizontal stripes, such as those for lighthouses Cape Cod in the United States , but the aesthetics of these unique constructions lies more in the architecture than in the color. None of these obstacles has prevented Okuda San Miguel from turning the coast of his native Cantabria upside down.
The Ajo lighthouse intervened by Okuda with his work 'Infinite Cantabria'
72 colors with aerosols to illuminate in 72 different ways the most attractive path of the tourist to the lighthouse , which has gone from anonymity to being the epicenter of a shower of criticism and praise alike. Where some see a work of art in an incomparable setting, others see the prostitution of art in favor of gentrification. As if something were missing in the controversy, the politicians have added a little more histrionics to the matter, with cross accusations and complaints about the status of artistic heritage.
“Art is not a crime” Okuda said proudly in his Instagram post presenting the final result to his followers at the end of August. “It is one more work of the many I have done. It is the transformation of a space that a priori is not defined to be painted , in order to give it a new life”, ensures exclusively for Condé Nast Traveler.
With the passing of days and after the storm of messages for and against, the Cantabrian artist prefers extract an optimistic reading of everything that happened . “The noise generated by the controversy has gone very well for appear in all media and receive more visits . In the end, it was the desired objective of the person who commissioned the work ”. And the order was from the very Miguel Angel Revilla , genius and figure of Cantabrian politics, who has not been slow to show his chest before the overwhelming numbers. In 11 days, 28,000 people have passed through the lighthouse.
“It is true that the complaints have surprised me. Especially those who came from my land. After 20 years, I do something in Cantabria and it is criticized ”. Looking for an objective explanation, attributes the complaints to collective boredom and confinement . “Honestly, I did not expect that a lighthouse could cause all this. I have transformed churches and sensitive spaces in many countries , but I think that the moment we are going through has influenced more than anything else. A priori, a church should generate more controversy than a lighthouse . The virus has deprived us of many things and everyone is at home wanting to give their opinion on the networks.
If you scratch a little deeper, you find more compelling reasons, which have to do with the art recognition in your own home . “Why is all this happening? Because we are in Spain . All the art that comes from abroad is valued much more than the one from here. It's crazy. Nothing like this has ever happened to me in China and the United States, and the respect for my art is much greater,” he says.
The best thing about Okuda's argument is that he does not look for hired thugs to defend his work, he prefers a thousand times that his work speaks for itself . “The action speaks for itself. It doesn't need much more explanation. On a technical level, there is nothing special. . The most remarkable thing is at the compositional level , since by belonging to a construction that depends on maritime signaling, by regulation the face of the lighthouse with views of the sea could only be colored with black and white ”. Fortunately, the ship's lookouts will not confuse Cantabria with Wonderland and, until proven otherwise, black and white continue to be colors even if they are not so garish.
Precisely the recurrent use of such striking colors in his work comes from his past as a graffiti artist . Knowing that his work was ephemeral he sought attention above other aspects . Something that he does not use as a justification to classify art according to the convening capacity it treasures. “ Does art have to attract people to be art? No way . art has to make you feel and not leave you indifferent . If it attracts more or less people, it is not more or less art. I do not justify the painting of the lighthouse with the number of visits. There are many lighthouses in Spain and in the world!”
Specifically, and not counting the beacon of discord, there are another 191 lighthouses scattered throughout the Spanish geography . 191 lighthouses that overnight are more greedy than a free advertisement at the entrance of Madrid. Also, only eight are protected under the umbrella of the Asset of Cultural Interest. “I have already been offered more lighthouses in other parts of Spain and we are studying the proposal. More specifically a lighthouse on an island”, she says in a mysterious tone without wanting to go into more detail.
The controversy is served
It won't be because of the damaging effects of sea salt, but it's supposed to the lighthouse will lose its multicolored skin by decree law . We do not know if it was due to external pressure from critics, but Eight years are established by the Port Authority before the white erases the mural of the already known as "Okuda's lighthouse". “We will see what happens after 8 years” he says without losing hope. “Everything changes a lot over time. Who will decide whether or not to remove my work from the lighthouse? I come from the world of graffiti. I painted on walls and after a week my painting disappeared. So I'm used to ephemeral art ”. A politically correct way of saying that he is used to the pain of losing his work. “In my mind it will last forever ”, he concludes.
It is indisputable that a buzz has been generated that goes far beyond the use of colors in a lighthouse and the functions of a construction designed more for what happens at sea than for what happens on land. "Art has always acted as a claim, since art is itself a tourist destination," he points out. Bruno Ruiz Nicoli . This art historian and contributor to Condé Nast Traveler brings volume and contour to the debate about art as a lure for gentrification . “The first tourists, the travelers of the Grand Tour, toured Italy in search of art, essentially . Tourism is a source of income, and every city or region has an interest in attracting visitors. The question is how this policy is carried out. For me there is the limit: in the how. The line between regeneration of degraded areas and gentrification is thin . The cases of the MACBA in the Raval or the Guggenheim in Bilbao have been widely discussed. It is usual that the recovery promoted by a museum institution or an artistic event in a certain environment lead to gentrification , but this it is an urban debate, not an artistic one”.
A crossroads that the art historian and disseminator Miguel Ángel Cajigal, better known as The Barroquist , unravels with more forcefulness. “Art can be used as a tourist attraction, but what has been done in the Ajo lighthouse has very little to do with art and much more with seeking visibility at any cost ”, He assures.
“No one has explained. what relationship does that painting have with that place or where the artistic content of all this comes from, probably because it has none: they have only sought to do something that 'brings people' even if it is out of context . There are many ways to 'bring people in' but not all of them are desirable, especially when that is the only argument. Do we put attracting tourism before respecting the natural heritage?”.
The official version of the president of the Community Miguel Angel Revilla focuses again and again on the idea of downplaying the importance of a lighthouse that no one knew existed a few months ago. As if that were not enough, perhaps stepping on a dangerous red line,** Revilla has thrown more fuel on the fire by saying that the Eiffel Tower was also rejected by the Parisians in its beginnings**. "How is this intervention going to generate local wealth?" asks El Barroquista. “What will happen is that It will attract people who will want to go to the lighthouse to take a couple of photos for their Instagram. And the end of history . As there is no content, the tourist will spend the exact ten minutes it takes to park and take a photo. There is no cultural, social, or even economic profitability in promoting anecdotal tourism”.
Bruno Ruíz adds that it is not relevant whether or not the lighthouse has no maritime use and this is demonstrated by the fact that the conflict "has been treated as a political issue, when it is a cultural action, and therefore It should be coordinated by a conservator who takes into account the value of the lighthouse . That's the limit: respect for heritage and its role in the society of which it is a part . From a purely commercial point of view, the intervention is likely to attract crowds and therefore be considered a success, but that should never be the criterion. What would we think of a similar intervention in the Puerta de Alcalá or the Giralda?”, he asks.
"There is no cultural, social, or even economic profitability in promoting anecdotal tourism"
For El Barroquista it is clear that the problem is not and will not be Okuda, but how things have been done . “If we let the color of the walls of a lighthouse change without any argument or project behind it, can we decide overnight that the traffic lights are going to turn yellow and blue instead of green and red with a weak light? pretext of attracting tourists? In the end, collateral damage will be baited with Cultural Heritage, but also with Okuda himself , says The Barroquist. "First, Okuda does not need this project , nor is it part of his creative line. He weakens the image of him as an artist, by distorting the idea of urban art. This type of art has its essence in the contestation and in the social vindication , but what has been done in the lighthouse is the opposite: a mural so comfortable, white and innocuous as to be a politician who applauds and pays for it . That is why the mural is made by Okuda and not by other names in the urban art scene: to guarantee that it will have some visual impact but that it will not bother at all from the point of view of social criticism”.
As a member of ICOMOS, a international non-governmental organization dedicated to the conservation of the world's monuments , The Barroquist still sees two more worrying things. First, damage to education for heritage conservation . “What happens if the other regional presidents decide that Okuda should also paint his headlights? In such a case, Ajo's would no longer attract the public, because it would be like all the others. Why can't a neighbor paint his house in those colors if it's in a natural environment or a historic quarter, but we let an administration do it with impunity? What if the argument of "bringing people" is used to justify painting a huge mural on the rock of a cliff or a mountain or destroying an entire ecosystem, like the intervention that Chillida proposed in Tindaya? The same administration that did not have the money to keep the Ajo lighthouse in good condition finds three or four times more money to decorate it, thinking only of tourism”.
Why can't a neighbor paint his house in those colors if it's in a natural environment or a historic quarter, but we let an administration do it with impunity?
This leads us inevitably to the second and greater danger. “ The depatrimonialization of heritage . When the authorities apply this way of thinking, where it seems that they only contemplate the interest of the visitor but not the opinions of the locals , end up generating a detachment of the population with its landscape and its heritage , which is only visualized as a magnet to attract outsiders”, concludes El Barroquista. Oblivious to the noise and pressure, Okuda gazes at the horizon, with or without a lighthouse in sight. “ I don't think that the great problem of art and culture in the world is a beacon in Ajo”, says the street artist.