Inspired by Alfred Hrdlicka’s – never accomplished – proposal to exchange monuments between East and West Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Cristobal Gracia wrote in 2015 a short story, waving between a historical and a science fiction narrative, where thanks to nuclear energy we are capable of teleporting such monuments, accomplishing Hdrlicka’s project. Further in the story, as an evolution of teleporting technology, cloning artworks becomes a rather common and rampant practice, invalidating art intrinsic and economic value, such that artists start destroying their own works, in order to regain their value.
This project extended into the exhibition “Los justos desconocidos” by El Cuarto de Máquinas in Galería Hilario Galguera, curated by Victor Palacios where artists such as Brenda Castro, Fernando García Correa, Willy Kautz, Mauricio Limón, Tláhuac Mata, Cy Rendón, Gabriel Santamarina, Ling Sepúlveda, María José Sesma and Benjamín Torres took part.
Coming from the narrative by Cristobal Gracia, which was published a few weeks prior to the exhibition in La Tempestad magazine and newspaper Excelsior, he invited the participant artists to destroy one of their own pieces in the exhibition galleries; Gracia provided with the materials needed to destroy such works. After the exhibition, the remainder of the works where disposed of.
This artwork is presented with the text from the magazine or newspaper and 12 black and white photographs of the destroyed art pieces. Cristobal Gracia is presented as the author of the work.