Tauromaquia

Publication produced through One Day Printing Show where 200 copies are printed and sold at cost price. Five editions have been produced in different cities in Spain, France, and Peru.

The state and the police are responsible for maintaining public order and citizen security. Social consensus on their actions is essential for their perpetuation. Recently, demonstrations and protests have become common places for the exercise of power and violence: mechanisms of social control set in motion to legitimize authoritarianism.

The images in TAUROMAQUIA document exhibitions that the police hold in bullrings before school audiences. Existing material has been compiled from the internet by taking screenshots on a computer. The resulting archive contains images from various points of view: footage shot by the police, local media, and teachers. Here, the incredible fervor of this national spectacle is shown from multiple perspectives: from the schoolchildren entering the bullring for the exhibition to the reenactment of the execution of a criminal.

Julián Barón. Spain, April 2014.