The Nature of the Beast

The Nature of the Beast is inspired by events that relate to Picasso’s famous painting Guernica and its use in a political context. Only two years after its creation, in 1939, the work was exhibited in London, at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, on the occasion of a fundraising effort and exhibition organized to make the public aware of the cruelties inflicted by the German Fascists upon the Spanish people.
In 1955, a copy was made of Picasso’s painting, in the form of a tapestry commissioned by Nelson Rockefeller. This tapestry is exhibited at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York, installed outside the Security Chamber, where important statements to the press are made. In 2003, when Colin Powell, speaking precisely from the United Nations headquarters, gave a speech in favor of the attack on Iraq, the tapestry was intentionally covered up with a blue curtain.
Macuga’s installation, which includes a statue of Powell and archival material, provides a large round table and chairs, serving as a meeting place and a platform open to public debates and lectures.