España, Día 2: Retiro, Tahimik, Dobble, Desesperado

We slept late after our first night in Madrid, and then Emi and Nina walked with me through the city center while Mari took a walk with Gimena (who was awaiting a negative Covid test before coming to the house).

One of the things I love about walking around Madrid is that I know the city well enough that I can confidently wander about without ever getting lost. But at the same time, there seem to be surprises around every corner. 
 

And every street seems like a photogenic backdrop.

Throughout our trip, Maria Rosa organized lunch and dinner for everyone at the house, and we all sat at the table and ate together. On day one, she made an egg and mushroom mix just for me. Later she honored me with tortilla española (without onions). In addition to several rice and pasta dishes, at most meals, I enjoyed a combination of a green salad with olive oil and parmesan cheese, guacamole with tortilla chips, baguette bread, manchego cheese, olives stuffed with jalapeños, kettle-style potato chips, orange slices (sometimes pineapple),  bananas with Filipino cookies, and water from glass bottles in the fridge. Delish.

After lunch, the Ruiz-Benton Five took an afternoon bus to Retiro park where we took a walk. The weather was beautiful. Emi wore shorts.

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We caught an exhibition hosted by the Reina Sofia at the Palacio de Cristal.
The title of the exhibition by Filipino artist and film director, Kidlat Tahimik (born: 1942), was "Magallanes, Marilyn, Mickey y Fray Dámaso: 500 años de conquistadores Rock Stars."

Tahimik studied economics in the United States and worked for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Develoment in Paris before he returned to the Philippines to teach himself film-making and, eventually, art.

Four-hundred years ago, Magallanes (Magellan) visited the Philippines for the first time. 

Tahimik's sculptures refer to key moments in the history of Spanish colonialism in the Phillipines.  Tahimik: "I want it to be clear that I am not a historian. I am an artist who plays with the official history."

Above: an archway of netting and iron tubes recreates the structure of the Palacio de Cristal itself, which was built for the General Exposition of the Philippine Islands in 1887.

During the Exposition of 1887, a group of indigeneous Igorottes--an ethnic group of which Tahimik is a member--were themselves put on display as an exotic species along with flora and fauna from the Philippines.

According to an article about the exposition in El Pais, Tahimik asserts that "Hollywood dominates all our stories, it's a true cultural war." His work "reflects on the impact of colonialism on local cultures in the last five centuries in the history of his country." 

Above: The breath of Inhabian, the goddess of the wind, lifts Marilyn's skirt, while all around them cultural war is waged between local myths and the myths of Hollywood.

Above and below: Wonder Woman and Spiderman ride American rockets aimed at sculptures of local deities.

 

Above: Fray Dámaso, "the personification of the vices of some Spanish friars, is represented . . . as a wolf..."

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According to a printed Reina Sofia museum guide: "Hovering above the central area of the palace . . . is a celestial ring of indigenous deities who observe the three cultural battles displayed on the floor. This circular structure is made from wicker and invokes the traditional dap-ay, the village venue where tribal elders pass on knowledge to the next generation through oral transmissions of ancient tales. 'These deities are looking down and knowing that the cultural fight will not die and that we will win it. Our culture is strong,' says Tahimik."

The picture above was taken with my camera. The picture below was taken with my new cellphone.

We timed our return to the house to coincide with Rita and Uxue's arrival after the end of their school day. Card games followed.

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Guess who won the first Desesperado.

The laughs in this and the next four videos are the reason we made the trip.

After cards: gelato.

After gelato, we walked the girls down to the Puente de Toledo with Gimena.