Dennis Hollingsworth

Self Abnegation

I've just recieved a call from my good friend, Aaron Parazette. He's at ARCO, the annual contemporary art fair in Madrid. I would have loved to see his recent work there.

I've decided to not go to the fair this year, even though there are a ton of reasons to be there... the show in K?ln is too close to take the time to see the fair. The biggest reason to be there is that Aaron is there. Conversations with Aaron, especially when it comes to art, are the very best, there is no equal. It would have been wonderful to chew the fat with him, especially all the art aesthetic/professional fat that ARCO would provide, wonderful especially in the context of the Prado and the Riena Sofia.

I feel grateful therefore (and a little guiilty tambien) that Aaron is going to make his way to Tossa from Madrid for an overnight visit at the end of the week. A heroic effort on his part, but he is an hombre cut from finer stuff than the average bear. But with three weeks of working time... I would have freaked a llittle if I took even three days off to see ARCO.

As for a not-so-small aside, Aaron reports a Basque car bomb that went off this morning somewhere close to ARCO, a blast that injured a few people. Nerves are strained a bit and ARCO attendance is weaker as a result. I tried to respond with humorous perspective, noting that being an ETA production, it is more symbolic rather than the massive body count of an Al Queda effort. All we can hope for is that the Spanish authorities are surpressing the latter. I hope I didn't appear cavalier, but while one amps up the cat-like street wariness, I think it's good to crack a joke now and then, gallows humor and all.

As far as ETA goes, while I think there is a peculiar absence of debate over the upcoming EU referendum, perhaps a yes vote would help pave the way for a more united Spain as time goes on. I concur with John Chappel of Iberian Notes in his recent post:

If I were Spanish, I would hope I would be honest enough to admit that Spain has a very poor record at self-government, and that membership in international institutions--first the UN and then NATO and the EU--has been key in making Spain part of the international community. I would actually figure that full 100% membership in the EU would be a guarantee on Spain never sliding back to the old ways; you have to remember that Spain was a dictatorship until the old SOB died in bed in 1975 and that the Army tried to pull a coup as late as 1981. Democracy in Spain was established as recently as 1978. Eastern Europe wasn't free until 1989. That's only an eleven-year difference. Spain has also received lots of dough from the EU over the years, and it would be sort of selfish to pull out now that the people who are going to get the big subsidies are Slavs and Magyars.

UPDATE:

Franco Aleman has the news.