Luz Broto’s Abrir un agujero permanente (2015): The Cultural Logic of Anti-Institutional Aesthetics

Abstract

Artist Luz Broto bored a 5 cm hole in the MACBA museum’s main façade, an intervention entitled Abrir un agujero permanente (2015), within a temporary exhibition. Broto demanded the hole’s permanence, disputing the venue’s temporary nature and challenging the museum’s bylaws, which exempt it from bestowing permanence to artwork. The artist’s drilling of the façade constituted a destructive strategy to impact the museum’s functioning, resulting in juridical and political consequences. This article reads Broto’s use of destruction and institutional regeneration in relation to Spain’s ‘New Left’ neglect of contemporary art institutions and to the pre-existing fabric of cultural networks more generally.