Pilar Albarracín – Marmites enragées, 2006

Pilar Albarracín’s performances, sculptures, textiles, videos and photographs explore the traditions, rituals and symbols of popular and vernacular Andalusian culture. From flamenco to bullfighting, the artist uses ridicule and irony to deconstruct the image of “Spanishness”, the construct of a supposedly common cultural, political and social identity. Her work is transgressive and creates spaces for feminist claims, raising awareness of power relations and the shortcomings, absences and prohibitions of a patriarchal society.

Pilar Albarracín’s installation Marmites enragées (“Raging Cookers”) consists of around fifty pressure cookers which burst into life as visitors approach; the steam from these pressure cookers is synchronised to the rhythms of the Socialist International. This revolutionary song, the workers’ anthem, rings out meaningfully in the disused railway workshops that were once the site of social and political demands. The installation is a metaphor for insubordination, recalling the historic use of pressure cookers as home-made bombs. With its connotations of the traditionally feminine world of the kitchen, it also mocks that particular image of domesticity. Vibrant and singing, the Marmites enragées express their indignation at the role society has assigned to them. Turning gender stereotypes on their head, Pilar Albarracín’s symbolic installation evokes the collective history of women.