This article was downloaded by: [zoe bray]On: 03 October 2014, At: 14:59Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office:Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Public Art DialoguePublication details, including instructions for authors and subscriptioninformation:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rpad20

Sculptures of Discord: Public Art and thePolitics of Commemoration in the BasqueCountryZoe BrayPublished online: 01 Oct 2014.

To cite this article: Zoe Bray (2014) Sculptures of Discord: Public Art and the Politics of Commemoration inthe Basque Country, Public Art Dialogue, 4:2, 221-248, DOI: 10.1080/21502552.2014.936687

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21502552.2014.936687

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”)contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and ourlicensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, orsuitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publicationare the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor &Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independentlyverified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for anylosses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilitieswhatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to orarising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantialor systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, ordistribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and usecan be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

SCULPTURES OF DISCORD:PUBLIC ART AND THE POLITICS OF

COMMEMORATION IN THEBASQUE COUNTRY

Zoe Bray

INTRODUCTION

In April 2008, a sculpture consisting of three zinc “monoliths,” eachapproximately seven feet high (Figure 1), was installed in the public park adjacentto the new seat of parliament of the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Spanish Basquecity of San Sebastian.1 Made by local sculptor Inaki Olazabal, it was entitled EnMemoria y Reconocimiento de Todas las Vıctimas del Terrorismo y de laViolencia, in Spanish, and, in Basque, Indarkeria eta Terrorismoaren BiktimaGuztiak Gogoratuz eta Aitortuz. In English, the artwork’s name translates as “InMemory and Recognition of All Victims of Terrorism and Violence.”2 This wasthe first time a public artwork was commissioned in homage to all victims in thepolitical conflict that has dogged the Basque Country for nearly a century. Thedefinition of “terrorism,” what constitutes political violence and who are its victimswas in 2008 — and still is today — a source of great tension in the region, asopposing political factions blame each other for the years of unrest, suffering anddeath. Consequently over time different political groups have created their ownmonuments to the memory of the people they consider to be victims. For one sideof the political spectrum (at its most extreme, the Spanish right-wing nationalistfaction), the only victims are those who have suffered from the actions of E.T.A.,the Basque left-wing paramilitary separatist group that has cast a pall on theBasque Country for more than 50 years. The Spanish nationalist faction considersE.T.A. to be the only agent of terrorism in the region. Meanwhile, the opposite side(at its most extreme, the Basque left-wing nationalist faction) believes that victimsare also those who have suffered as a result of actions by the Spanish state, thepolice and extreme right-wing groups.

In the case of the provincial parliament of Gipuzkoa, a group of representativesof various political parties and of non-partisan cultural actors had remarkablymanaged to put their differences aside and come together for a project that could

Public Art Dialogue, 2014Vol. 4, No. 2, 221–248, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21502552.2014.936687

q 2014 Taylor & Francis

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

recognize all victims in the attempt to begin — at least at the provincial level andthrough art — a process toward peace. Proposed by two independent curators, thisgroup had agreed to organize a closed competition in which five artists were invitedto take part, and had eventually selected Olazabal’s submission. In a press release,the parliament’s president, Rafaela Romero, emphasized that the objective of theproject was to demonstrate the “pluralism” of the victims.3 On the day of theinauguration of Olazabal’s sculpture, Romero declared:

We who are here are different. We have different political ideas andsensibilities, which separate us in political debate. But we havesomething that unites us and which should unite us even more: thememory, the remembrance of victims who have demonstrated theirrationality of violence. They ask us to join together againstterrorism, they call for a better future, and this sculpture will remindus that, every day, they are calling in silence for peace and freedom.4

Despite this seemingly unifying and innocuous call to remember the dead and strivefor peace and freedom, Olazabal’s sculpture immediately became a source of publiccontroversy. This had little to do with the sculpture’s aesthetic quality. While someconcerns were voiced about Olazabal’s artistic treatment of the subject, the maincontroversy revolved around the subject itself. Critics refused to accept that therecould be a neutral, non-partisan monument to all victims, denying the recognitionof some of the victims as such and refusing to be associated with them. The conflictover who is to be recognized as a victim and which violence and terrorism relatesintimately to the current question of memory in the Basque Country: how to

Figure 1. Inaki Olazabal. Indarkeria eta Terrorismoaren BiktimaGuztiak Gogoratuz eta Aitortuz/EnMemoria y Reconocimiento de Todas las Vıctimas del Terrorismo y de la Violencia. 2008. Zinc. Parkof the Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa, San Sebastian. Photograph: Juntas Generales deGipuzkoa.

222

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

remember which past and which kind of collective memory to build. Given thetumultuous history and continuing political tensions there still today, violence, itsvictims and their memory remain inextricably intertwined. Together with Basqueidentity, these issues are inseparable from politics and ideology.

This article considers the impact of conflict on the type of public art created inthe region, and on the public’s interaction with it. It focuses on the last decade thatin a short span of time saw significant political developments: in 2008, theparliament of the Basque region of Euskadi passed a law providing for therecognition of and assistance to victims of terrorism, which included victims ofboth E.T.A. and past right-wing paramilitary groups. This law made the firstsculpture in thememory of all victims possible. Until then, terrorism had generallybeen considered as being only the work of E.T.A. The law, however, has been andcontinues to be criticized by both extreme political poles. In 2011 E.T.A. declared apermanent ceasefire, which greatly eased political tensions in the region. Laterthat year, left-wing Basque nationalists gained seats in local elections alongside themore established conservative Basque Nationalist Party (known by its initials asthe P.N.V. in Spanish and E.A.J. in Basque), and the Spanish regional Socialistparty (P.S.E. in Spanish and E.E. in Basque). This development caused animportant power shift, with consequences for how law and policymaking ispresently reviewed, including on the recognition of victims.

Numerous artists in the Basque Country have made sculptures in memory ofvictims of Basque political violence. Each has done so with a particularunderstanding of what constitutes such violence and with a specific idea of who areits victims. Nonetheless, many more have refused to submit proposals for publicmemorials because of their controversial nature. Many artists do not wish to getinvolved, either because they disagree with the political intentions of thecommissioners, or because they fear negative repercussions for their artisticreputations. In addition to the sculptor Olazabal, I focus in this study on threeother local artists who have created such sculptures: Agustın Ibarrola, Aitor deMendizabal and more recently a younger artist, Gotzon Huegun. I have selectedthese artists because they represent a variety of strategies in relation to suchprojects and have received varied responses from the public reflecting theirdifferent political backgrounds and positions.

I highlight the roles that power and politics play both in how the publicinteracts with and appreciates the artwork, and in the creation of such art. I stressthe importance of the sociopolitical context for the creation and appreciation ofart. Artwork is both a product of and a catalyst for social interaction.5 There isincreasing research on the politics of public art, and the conflicting intentionsbetween project leaders, artists and publics.6 There is also a developing body ofwork on the importance of commemoration for defining and reaffirming collectiveidentity,7 and the influence of aesthetics.8 In the case of the Basque Country,

223

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

research has focused on the importance of different types of commemorative actsin constructing specific Basque nationalist identities.9 In relation to art, studieshave been limited so far to looking at the role of political murals and nationalistdefinitions of “Basque art” over time.10 This article fills an important gap byfocusing on public monuments in memory of terrorist victims.

The politics of commemorative art have been variously analyzed fromhistorical, sociological and political perspectives.11 Many of these haveconcentrated on collective memories, or on what it means for the self-awarenessof a group of people to conceive commemorative art. As a social anthropologist, Iam concerned not so much with analyzing the symbolic value of the sculptures, butrather the sociopolitical context in which they are conceived and take on meaning.My concern is with how the political struggles in the local context and the resultingcontestations over the artwork impact artists and their work, and how these areintertwined with the given political climate. In the Basque region of Euskadi, thelegitimacy of public commemorative sculpture is questioned by the differentpolitical and ideological factions, which each have their own experiences andperceptions of collective identity and memory. There is no official version ofnational identity and memory that the public agrees upon, so the appreciation ofpublic art in Euskadi is informed by contesting cultural and politicalidentifications. People there are more inclined to appreciate a work of artpolitically: their appreciation is influenced by knowledge of the artwork’s politicalassociations, and of its creator and supporters. The politicization of art in regard toits context, audience and creators is an aspect of public art that so far has beenunder-researched, and which this article addresses.

Some of the artists in Euskadi who choose to produce artwork in memory ofterrorist victims are being consciously political and have a clear affiliation. Others,however, may not identify with any particular political faction: aside from beingeager to work on public commissions, they seek to unite the divided society ofwhich they consider themselves a part. But due to the context in which they act— their personal backgrounds, or the sections of society with which they associate— they are deemed political and perceived to be taking sides. Their artwork isappreciated or disparaged accordingly. Embarking on such public commissions,these artists negotiate the cultural and political contexts in which they live andwork, choosing media and discourses in response to the social and politicalpressures. This article is based on archival and ethnographic research.12

THE CONTEXT: BASQUE POLITICAL CONFLICT

The Basque Country is a vaguely defined territory with a heterogeneous society:straddling the border between France and Spain, it covers seven historical

224

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

provinces: Araba, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Navarre on the Spanish side of thefrontier; and Lapurdi, Behe Nafarroa and Xiberoa on the French side. Altogether,Basque nationalists refer to them as Euskal Herria, meaning in Euskara (theBasque language), “Basque people” and “Basque Country”. Within this territory,the region of Euskadi, comprising the provinces of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa,enjoys autonomy under administrative statutes put in place in the late 1970s. Theneighboring province of Navarre also has its own regional government, reflectingits historically different relationship with the Spanish state. In France, by contrast,Lapurdi, Behe Nafarroa and Xiberoa have been recognized as a politico-administrative unit known as pays only since the 1990s. Beyond that, the PaysBasque, as the area formed by these three provinces is known in French, has noinstitutional status. It forms part of the larger culturally diverse departement desPyrenees Atlantiques, which in turn is part of the yet larger administrative regionof Aquitaine. Reflecting these divisions, each faction of the broadly defined BasqueCountry has developed politically and culturally in different ways over the years.13Distinct definitions of Basque identity reflect the institutional contexts of the threemain parts of the Basque Country. A sense of Basque identity is strongest in theregion of Euskadi, where Basque nationalism is most pronounced and where theregional government has clear policies in favor of the Basque language.14

In this article, I focus on Euskadi because it is there that political conflict ismost intense and where the topics of memory and art are institutional matters. Inthe Pays Basque and Navarre, Basque nationalists remain electorally too weak tobe able to bring issues of sovereignty, identity, history and memory making to theinstitutional table.

The roots of the conflict in Euskadi can be found in the historic rights of self-government established in the Middle Ages but lost over subsequent centuries.Grievances among the Basque Country’s elite were sharpened in the nineteenthcentury as the industrialization of the area around Bilbao brought an influx ofimmigrants. The P.N.V. was founded at this time, calling for a restoration ofhistoric rights and the affirmation of a Basque identity defined by racial criteria.Present Basque nationalism began under the authoritarian regime of GeneralFranco, who ruled Spain from 1939 to 1975. E.T.A. was born in 1959 as a left-wingliberation movement; many of its original members had been supporters of the P.N.V. but were frustrated by its conservative, Catholic and bourgeois base. E.T.A.’sleaders were inspired by Marxism and believed in the use of violence to achieveBasque independence. When Spain became a constitutional democracy in 1978,Euskadi and Navarre were granted autonomous statutes, and Basque nationalistscould take part in democratic politics. A coalition of political parties close to E.T.A., Herri Batasuna (H.B.), was founded to run in the elections in Euskadi.However, with its moremoderate political stance, the P.N.V. won and continued tolead the government in Euskadi until it was defeated in 2009 by the P.S.E. Despite

225

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

the arrival of democracy, a faction of E.T.A. refused to lay down arms, vowing tocontinue its struggle until the Basque Country became independent. Its violencehas brought death, pain and polarization. In addition to the Spanish police andarmy, its targets included individuals who spoke out against E.T.A. such aspoliticians, journalists, academics and artists. Members of the regional branches ofthe two main Spanish constitutionalist parties, the right-wing Popular party (P.P.)and the Socialist party (P.S.O.E.), have been prime targets due to their efforts tocombat E.T.A. and Basque nationalism in general.

Spanish and French nationalism has also played a role in strengtheningthe boundaries of Basque nationalist identity. In the 1980s, the Spanishgovernment, under the leadership of the P.S.O.E., allowed an undercover right-wing paramilitary death squad known as G.A.L. to hunt down E.T.A. militants.In the late 1990s, led by the P.P., the Spanish government pursued a hard-linestrategy against E.T.A., also involving attacks to root out the organization’salleged civil support network. In 2002 a law was passed to suspend theactivities of the new left-wing Basque nationalist party Batasuna. The SpanishSupreme Court then closed down the Basque-language newspaper Egunkaria,also accused of a connection with E.T.A. In another notorious instance, the so-called Bateragune case led to the arrest of some key left-wing Basquenationalist politicians and their jail sentences on charges of working with E.T.A. Basque nationalists have criticized these actions, arguing that thesepoliticians were attempting to negotiate a truce with E.T.A. and that, bypursuing them, the Spanish government revealed it was not truly interested inestablishing peace. This has also sustained a sense of victimization amongstthe left-wing Basque nationalist movement. During the 1980s and early 1990s,thousands of individuals with links to E.T.A. went into what is called politicalexile abroad; these people now claim the right to return home as part of theeffort to establish peace in the Basque Country.

The relationship between the P.N.V. and left-wing Basque nationalists close toE.T.A. has always been difficult. P.N.V. members have tended to see the Basquenationalists as their “lost children” turned violent, yet they are also theirideological and political adversaries. The P.N.V. condemns E.T.A., but because ofits occasional indulgence of the left-wing Basque nationalist movement, theSpanish constitutionalist parties and their regional branches, P.S.E. and P.P.E.,accuse the P.N.V. of condoning terrorism.Meanwhile, left-wing Basque nationalistpoliticians refuse to explicitly condemn E.T.A. until the violence of the Spanishstate is also recognized. With E.T.A.’s continued activities until 2011, it wasparticularly difficult for these different parties to engage in dialogue. Since E.T.A.sceasefire, efforts to resolve conflict have begun but remain tense.

Studies from various disciplinary perspectives — social anthropology,sociology and political science — have shown how the concept of terrorism is

226

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

politically charged and used by one group to dismiss another.15 In the BasqueCountry, terrorism is a contested concept, separating people into opposing camps:those who consider E.T.A. a terrorist group and an abomination to the legitimatestate; and those who point to the existence of state terrorism, arguing that E.T.A. ismerely retaliating. Since Spain’s return to a constitutional democracy, Spanishnationalist conservatives (including the P.P.E.) have used the term “terrorist” todiscredit Basque nationalists. The division between these poles — left-wing Basqueseparatists on the one hand, and supporters of Spanish constitutionalist parties onthe other — has been cultural and social as well as political. Concurrently, eachcamp remembers and honors its victims and blames the other for the continuedlack of peace. In 2008, amid these tensions, the Basque parliament (then led by theP.N.V.) passed a law that recognized victims of terrorism of not only E.T.A. butalso of right-wing paramilitary groups including G.A.L. This law was enacteddespite opposition from the P.P.E. (which demanded exclusivity for E.T.A.victims), and the abstention of left-wing Basque nationalists (who argued thatvictims of state violence should also be included).16 A year later, however, the P.N.V. lost control of the Basque government to an alliance between the P.S.E. and P.P.E. The new president of the Basque government, P.S.E. member Patxi Lopez,pledged to represent “all Basques,” and to resolve the conflict by achieving thesurrender of E.T.A.17 During his mandate, Lopez worked with other parliamentarygroups to establish an official policy recognizing the wide range of people who hadsuffered from the Basque political conflict. In 2010 he established a Day ofMemory on November 10 to commemorate “all victims of terrorism; withoutexception, those of E.T.A., for being the only terrorist group which persists today,and those provoked by other groups which, even though now in the past, alsodeserve to be remembered.”18 Since then, to stage their disapproval, both P.P.E.supporters and left-wing Basque nationalists each organize their own commem-orations separately on this day in front of their respective monuments.

In January 2011, thanks to the help of international experts in conflictresolution, E.T.A. declared a ceasefire. In this new political climate a new left-wingBasque nationalist party, Bildu, was created, and allowed to run in the regionalelections in May. It received 26 percent of the vote, marking a popular affirmationof left-wing Basque nationalism. Bildu won control of the provincial governmentof Gipuzkoa, and of key cities including San Sebastian hitherto under Socialistadministration. While the Spanish constitutionalist parties continue to opposegranting greater autonomy to Euskadi, the rise of Bildu strengthens the hand ofBasque nationalists. In 2012 the P.N.V. regained control of the Basquegovernment and launched its own peace process. With E.T.A. not yet dissolved,however, no political consensus over what such a process should involve has beenachieved. The Spanish police still pursue alleged E.T.A. militants and the Spanishgovernment refuses to discuss the “repatriation” of Basque “political prisoners.”

227

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

So the debate over memory and the fate of E.T.A. victims and victims from theopposite camp continues. In this climate, public commemorative sculptures areboth necessary and contentious symbols.

PUBLIC COMMEMORATIVE SCULPTURE AND THE “POLITICAL”ARTIST

OLAZABAL, THE RELUCTANT ANTI-HERO

In 2008, when Olazabal’s sculpture was dedicated, the situation in the BasqueCountry was extremely tense: E.T.A. was still active (only a few weeks earlier, ithad murdered former Socialist councilor Isaıas Carrasco outside his home inMondragon-Arrasate); numerous Spanish political figures had bodyguards; andleft-wing Basque nationalists refused to condemn E.T.A., claiming they were stillsuffering from state reprisal. Emotions were high and identity polarizationextreme. Even though the provincial parliament’s commemoration was designedto be explicitly inclusive, it was criticized by the region’s opposing politicalfactions, the P.P.E. and left-wing Basque nationalists. The president of Gipuzkoa’sparliament at that time, Rafaela Romero, was amember of the P.S.E., opposing thestance of both the P.P.E. and the left-wing Basque nationalists on the topic ofpolitical violence. Although victims of E.T.A. were present at the sculpture’sinauguration, the P.P.E. denounced the sculpture on the grounds that victims ofother sources of violence should not be put in the same category as E.T.A.victims.19 Meanwhile, left-wing Basque nationalists criticized the omission ofvictims of abuse by state authorities. Olazabal’s sculpture was further controversialbecause the artist was a former E.T.A. member. In the late 1970s, he had beeninvolved in the so-called politico-military faction of E.T.A., E.T.A. pm, which at thetime advocated political negotiation supported by violent action. Captured andsentenced to a jail term of several years for his involvement in arms trafficking, hewas released, along with other members of his faction, when E.T.A. pm leaderschose in 1982 to renounce violence in favor of just political dialogue.20 Hard-lineleft-wing Basque nationalists saw this public repudiation as a betrayal of theircause, and negative sentiment toward former members of E.T.A. pm still lingers insome extreme left-wing Basque nationalist circles.

To my eyes, Olazabal’s zinc sculptures convey the bleakness of his years bothas an E.T.A. militant and a prisoner. Often taking the forms of disjointed cubes,they resemble prison watchtowers or surveillance cameras. Olazabal, however,prefers to talk of dialogue: “They’re all facing and talking to each other.” In SanSebastian, the three monoliths of In Memory and Recognition of All Victims ofTerrorism and Violence are placed in such a way that “they communicate the

228

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

internal experience of the victims, with the exterior, public space and Basquesociety.”21 For him, the space between them evokes “the gazes which confront andmeet each other. As we walk in and out, we are always called to meet the gazes ofthese sculptures, which symbolize the victims, and to give them their necessaryrecognition.”22 He depicted them, he said, “in minimal form,” as they have incommon “a desire for justice and recognition.”23

Olazabal is aware that he has enemies on both sides: anti-Basque nationalistscondemn him for his former political allegiance, while hard-line Basquenationalists resent him for his political conversion and condemnation of E.T.A.24 The world of left-wing Basque nationalism, and especially that of H.B., hasbeen unremittingly hostile to the artist. Around the same time as the inaugurationof his sculptural ensemble in San Sebastian, Olazabal was scheduled to produce anartwork for the town of Zumaia, where he lives and works. It was commissioned bythe municipal councilor for cultural affairs, Pilar Etxabe, a member of themoderate Basque nationalist party Eusko Alkartasuna (E.A.). Wary of possiblecriticism from local left-wing Basque nationalists,25 Olazabal insisted on makingsure that the rest of the municipal council was in favor of the commission beforeproceeding with his sculpture Elkarrizketa/Dialogo, which in Basque and Spanishmeans “dialogue” (Figure 2). When he presented a maquette to the municipalcouncil, a majority of its members, including those representing moderate Basquenationalist and regional Spanish parties, confirmed their support. The twomembers of E.A.E.,26 a party with links to the former H.B. coalition, opposed itand succeeded in blocking the project.27 This party’s advocates criticized theallegedly unfair way in which Olazabal had obtained the commission, assertingthat there should have been an open competition. In an extraordinary meeting onNew Year’s Eve 2009, the mayor, who had until then been pressured by E.A.E.,was convinced by the council majority to proceed with the commission. The

Figure 2. Inaki Olazabal in front of his group of sculptures Dialogo/Elkarrizketa. Zinc. Public park,Zumaia. Installed in 2010. Photograph: Zoe Bray.

229

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

project was recognized as legal; the councilor for cultural affairs is allowed tocommission an artist directly. The sculpture was finally installed in June 2010.28

Olazabal, recalling the coldness on the part of people in Zumaia, said that hefelt ostracized and to this day some will not greet him publicly.29 A lot of thisanimosity, he is convinced, is also related to his sculpture in San Sebastian. Weeksafter the inauguration of that sculpture, Olazabal received a damning letter from aformer friend and fellow artist with links to Herri Batasuna:30

You have misused two organs necessary for the creative process: thebrain and the heart. You were a good sculptor; you did not need allthis artifice; you did not need to get involved in this issue; you didnot need to dirty yourself with it. You were greater than this. I do notbelieve there are victims of terrorism, only victims of society’sstupidity, and there are now yet more of them.31

This affected Olazabal deeply, not merely in relation to his political stance but,most poignantly, to his stature as an artist. Since then, members of the generalBasque public have dismissed the artist’s work as uninteresting, bland or passe. Atthe time of Olazabal’s sculptures in Zumaia and San Sebastian, “dialogue” was stillbeing hotly rejected by opposing parties in the Basque Country, each demandingthat the other make the first step acknowledging their past — and present —crimes. That Olazabal should call all parties to dialogue and title his sculpture assuch was unacceptable to Herri Batasuna supporters.32

Following the inauguration of his work in San Sebastian, some members ofthe associations representing E.T.A. victims also expressed outrage at the fact thatOlazabal was an ex-member of E.T.A. They reportedly said: “How could he be theartist to commemorate victims of terrorism when he belonged to E.T.A.?”33 Theycriticized his work for being ambiguous and “equidistant.”34 Olazabal responded:“Shouldn’t that be a positive thing? That it’s an ex-E.T.A. person like me calling fordialogue, the ultimate sign that E.T.A. should stop?” But the artist disturbs bothextreme positions. Earlier this year some of his sculptures in Zumaia werevandalized during the annual fiestas (Figure 3).35

The harsh criticism Olazabal receives for his work contrasts with theappreciation expressed by art connoisseurs outside of the Basque political realm.One French collector, in a book on Basque sculpture that featured Olazabal’s workon the cover, described his art as “timeless monuments or modern megaliths . . .with strong personality . . . its enigmatic presence inspires an emotionalreaction . . . suggesting the most poetic dimension of Basque contemporarysculpture.”36 When seen devoid of political association, the aesthetic appreciationfor Olazabal’s work relies instead upon its artistic merit.

230

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

IBARROLA, THE VOLUNTARY HERO/ANTI-HERO

To be dismissed as an artist and to have one’s work deprecated because of one’spolitical position is nothing new in the Basque Country. There are other cases ofartists who are dismissed for producing “bad” work, and when one looks closer,one can correlate the criticism with politics. A well-known example is the nowoctogenarian Agustın Ibarrola, once one of the most outspoken and active artistsprotesting the right-wing authoritarian regime of General Franco. Since Spainbecame a democracy, Ibarrola has criticized E.T.A. and Basque nationalism,creating many enemies in Euskadi. During the Franco regime Ibarrola devoted hisart to the anti-establishment cause: he produced elaborate and powerful paintingsand prints of popular struggles, which were distributed amongst the populationand sold to fund grassroots initiatives (Figure 4). He was also dedicated todeveloping a Basque modern art movement and launching a Basque art school totrain young artists to “liberate” Basque society through their art.37 Ibarrola wasjailed and tortured several times as a member of the outlawed Communist party.38

After the death of Franco, Ibarrola began accusing E.T.A. and Basquenationalism of being “Nazi and Fascist.”39 In 1998 he helped found the so-calledForo Ermua, an association defending refusals to negotiate with E.T.A. andencouraging the union of constitutionalist parties in order to strengthenopposition against Basque nationalism. In addition to being one of theassociation’s most outspoken members, Ibarrola designed the association’s logo,a lantern, “to bring light to democracy and human rights to all corners of Spanishcivic life, and especially to my beloved Basque Country where they arecontinuously undermined by terrorism and totalitarian nationalism.”40 Thefollowing year, Ibarrola also became a member of the civic platform Basta Ya,which called for a strong constitutionalist position. This led to the creation of anew political party, Union, Progreso y Democracia (U.P.y.D.) in 2007, composed

Figure 3. Inaki Olazabal. Dialogo/Elkarrizketa. Public park, Zumaia. Damaged after the town’sfiestas in 2013. Photograph: Diario Vasco.

231

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

of former P.S.E. and P.P.E. supporters but with a more centrist position, and towhich Ibarrola has donated artworks. Ibarrola’s art has changed since Spain’sreturn to democracy. From his avant-garde depiction of workers’ struggles and callto revolt, he turned to more abstract and colorful sculpture and landscapepainting. He described these as “total works.”41 His famous paintings on trees inthe forest of Oma near Bilbao were conceived in the mid 1980s as totems linkinghumanity with nature (Figure 5). He has also produced many sculptures inmemory of victims of E.T.A., leading in 2011 to the publication of a book thattraces the installation of these monuments across Spain.42 In 2003 Ibarroladonated such a sculpture to Vitoria-Gasteiz, the capital city of Euskadi (whosemayor at the time was P.P.E. member Alfonso Alonso): it consisted of an ironmonolith, a large slab of marble, and ceramics on the ground inscribed with thenames of E.T.A. victims (Figure 6). C.O.V.I.T.E.,43 a collective composed of victimsof E.T.A. and G.A.L., contributed to the cost of the sculpture. In December of 2005C.O.V.I.T.E. held a ceremony in front of the sculpture and the group’s presidentexpressed gratitude to Ibarrola: “thank you for not looking the other way, like somany others. The sculpture will help us in our struggle for truth, memory and

Figure 4. Agustın Ibarrola. Burdin Irakina. Engraving. Circa 1950. Photograph: Euskomedia.

232

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

justice,” adding, “truth is being obfuscated by nationalist power with prettywords and facile acts which don’t compromise on anything.”44 In turn, Ibarroladenounced the creation of monuments “by people who are not friends with victimsof terrorism,” and celebrated the fact that “until now, they have not been able tosilence us, even though they have tried.”45

In 2010 Ibarrola donated another sculpture in memory of terrorist victims tobe installed in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Figure 7). On the first Day of Memory, it wasdedicated by the president of the Basque government (Socialist party memberPatxi Lopez) in the public park near the government building Ajuria Enea. Thesteel sculpture represented a human figure that, according to Ibarrola, “standingupright, can challenge the future and offer hope for tomorrow.”46 Due to hisoutspoken stance against both E.T.A. and Basque nationalism, and in favor of the

Figure 5. Agustın Ibarrola, in front of his painted trees in the forest of Oma, Bosque de Oma/OmakoBasoa, near Bilbao/Bilbo, March 2014. Photograph: Maika Salguero.

Figure 6. Agustın Ibarrola. Monumento a las Victimas del Terrorismo de ETA/ETArenTerrorismoaren Biktimen Omenezko Monumentua. Marble, cement, ceramic and iron. Forondo,entrance to the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz. Installed 2003. Photograph: C.O.V.I.T.E.

233

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

Spanish constitution, Ibarrola has received death threats and his art has beenvandalized. The tree paintings of Oma have been damaged several times(Figure 8). In 2000, two were chopped down and over 80 defaced. In 2003, whitepaint was splashed over them with the words “Ibarrola fascist,” “Ibarrola Spanish,kill him,” and “Basta Ya” with a bull’s-eye painted over the words.47 Although anartistic hero to many in the Basque Country, Ibarrola’s image has beentransformed by a section of the population (those close to Basque nationalism)

Figure 7. Agustın Ibarrola in front of his sculpture Monumento a las Victimas del Terrorismo/Terrorismoaren Biktimen Omenezko Monumentua. Bronze. By the governmental building of AjuriaEnea, Vitoria-Gasteiz. Inaugurated in 2010. Photograph: Patxi Lopez.

Figure 8. Agustın Ibarrola, with one of his painted trees, part of his Bosque de Oma/Omako Basoa,vandalized in the forest of Oma, in 2000. Photograph: Jose Mari Lopez.

234

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

into an anti-hero. While his contemporaries the sculptors Jorge Oteiza, EduardoChillida and Nestor Basterretxea are celebrated as the major figures of Basqueavant-garde art, this is not the case for Ibarrola. Basterretxea, the only survivor ofthis trio, is regularly awarded prizes in the Basque Country: Ibarrola is honoredmore in the rest of Spain.48 Ibarrola’s work is praised by the Spanish monarchy,49and associated with established trends such as land art.50 Mario Vargas Llosa, aPeruvian-Spanish Nobel Peace Prize winner, praised Ibarrola’s artistry while hecondemned Basque nationalism and supported the U.Py.D. In 2011 when anotherIbarrola sculpture in homage to terrorist victims was installed by the governmentof the Spanish province of Alicante, a representative of an association of E.T.A.victims praised him as “the only Basque artist who has always been with thevictims,” and thanked him “for the refuge that his work has given us.”51

In Basque nationalist circles, Ibarrola’s work is typically dismissed on artisticgrounds as “uninteresting” and involving “stupid, simplistic color schemes.” Oneart amateur who is also a self-proclaimed Basque nationalist stated: “He used to bea good artist, when he was producing these paintings and prints. But now that hehas shifted politically, his work is completely pathetic.” Dislike of the Oma workhas also been expressed in the guise of environmental concern. Another self-proclaimed Basque nationalist declared: “I disagree with the idea of painting ontrees.”52

MENDIZABAL, THE WELL-MEANING ARTIST

Olazabal and Ibarrola are extreme examples of artists in Euskadi whose identitiesand art have been inextricably linked with politics. Ibarrola preaches unity andspirituality and evokes these values through abstract art: his political positionagainst Basque nationalism is clear. Olazabal, by contrast, calls for dialoguethrough his sculpture while maintaining a middle ground position. Aitor deMendizabal also created sculpture in memory of terrorist victims in the yearsbefore E.T.A.’s ceasefire. Unlike Olazabal and Ibarrola, however, Mendizabal, nowin his 60s, does not have a history of political engagement. From a Basqueentrepreneurial family, he was born in Venezuela, grew up in San Sebastian, andtrained as a sculptor in Italy where he developed a classical approach to sculpturefar from the influences of the Basque avant-garde. His work usually has figurativeelements and often draws upon Greek mythology (Figure 9). After the E.T.A.assassinations of P.P.E. politician Gregorio Ordonez in 1995 and P.S.E. politicianFernando Mugica in 1996, Mendizabal expressed his solidarity, though “withoutpartisanship,”53 by creating two abstract sculptures donated to the victims’ friendsand family.54 In 2006 he won a competition sponsored by a group of P.P.E.representatives of the city hall of San Sebastian, together with associations of E.T.A. victims, for a sculpture in memory of “all” terrorist victims.55 This bronze

235

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

abstract work is triangularly shaped. He described the 14-foot-high “monolith,”noting that “the triangle, the number 3 symbolizes the unity of all sensibilities,”and thus the sculpture “seeks to close the enormous wound of Basque society. Mywork wishes to represent all victims of violence.”56 Memoria/Oroimena (Spanishand Basque; means “memory’) was sited in the city hall’s gardens on the Day ofWorld Peace in 2007 (Figure 10). Despite positive, inclusive symbolism, thecompetition and sculpture became sources of controversy. Amid ongoing tensions,local political parties criticized each other about the process and significance of theproject. The P.P.E. councilors of San Sebastian, as its original promoters, had

Figure 9. Aitor de Mendizabal. Ateak/Puertas. Bronze, marble and copper. Installed in 1995. Plazade Irun, San Sebastian. Photograph: San Telmo Museum.

Figure 10. Aitor de Mendizabal. Oroimena/Memoria. Public park Alderdi Eder, San Sebastian.Bronze. Inaugurated 2007. Photograph: San Telmo Museum.

236

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

succeeded in having it approved with support from victims’ associations and thegovernmental unit for human rights.57 But it was the P.S.E. leading the city councilthat finally brought the project to fruition. In doing so, the P.S.E. gave themonument a broader focus than the P.P.E.’s original intention to concentrate onlyon E.T.A. victims. Meanwhile, Basque left-wing nationalists who had no seats onthe council criticized the initiative on the grounds that it was the result of anundemocratic process and that it once again excluded their victims. Amid thiscontroversy, somemembers of the public remained unsure about the subject of themonument and the “real” position of the artist. Some people accused him of beingpartisan for having created such a sculpture. One art collector and member of themoderate Basque nationalist party E.A. expressed his “doubts” about Mendizabal:“In my opinion he is not a good artist. . . .This sculpture in memory of victims ofterrorism. What sort of sculpture is this? What terrorism are we talking about?”58

Mendizabal was very upset by this criticism, as he felt profoundlymisunderstood. He stated that he could have made friends with one party oranother and benefited from their support, but decided not to get involved incronyism. Rather, he remained true to his convictions to produce an artwork thatwent beyond sectarianism and honored life over death and politics.59 Over theyears, in line with political developments,Memoria/Oroimena has been the site ofcommemorations by different groups, notably those close to the P.S.E. and theP.P.E. On the other hand, left-wing Basque nationalists would have nothing to dowith it until Bildu, its new coalition party, won the elections in San Sebastian in2011 and took control of the municipal council. That year they first appeared at theannual ceremony in memory of victims (Figure 11).60 This pleased Mendizabal,even though Bildu made a point of not depositing flowers alongside the other

Figure 11. Politicians commemorating at the foot of Aitor de Mendizabal’s Oroimena/Memoria onthe Day of Memory, November 10, 2011. Public park Alderdi Eder, San Sebastian. Photograph: JavierHernandez.

237

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

representatives. In 2012 each political party once again organized its own separateritual in front of the sculpture, with flowers, speeches and moments of silence.Representatives of the P.P.E. stressed that the homage was for “all victims ofterrorism,” as is written on the plaque at the foot of the sculpture; that is, as theyunderstood it, victims of E.T.A.61

HUEGUN, THE “CRITICAL” ARTIST

More recently, a sculptor in his 30s, Gotzon Huegun, made a memorial to terroristvictims for his hometown of Lasarte Oria (near San Sebastian) at the invitation ofthe town’s mayor, P.S.E. member Jesus Zaballo. He was initially wary ofembarking on such a polemical topic and exposing himself to being labeled aspartisan. Finally he accepted the commission in 2011, reassured by recentdevelopments in institutional recognition of victims across the political spectrum.Huegun explained that he wanted to contribute artistically to the effort “to uniteeveryone, to focus on victims of all sides; to be critical.” He was “not political, andhad never belonged to any group or sympathized with any.” He also added that hewas fortunate that neither he nor his family had suffered from political violence,“otherwise my position might have been quite different.” Therefore he couldapproach the subject critically. It was important to him that the sculpture be for“all victims of violence — not just E.T.A.’s — and stress that Basque society as awhole has also been a victim.”62

Huegun’s wood and stone sculptures usually refer to figurative and traditionalartifacts (Figure 12). Prompted by his desire to appeal to all political sides, hedecided to use a more abstract style. He still drew on a traditional object, the“argizaiola” (a type of candle used for funerary rites in the Basque Country), butchose to emphasize color “to symbolize the different sensibilities of the victims.”63The resulting monument, Geroaren Memoria/Memoria de Manana (Memory ofTomorrow), consisted of three pieces of dark grey marble, variously sized(Figure 13). One of them represented the people assassinated, with a hole filledwith multicolored cubes, “symbolizing all the different sensibilities,” while theother two stood for society, “since we are also in many ways victims of politicalviolence, and of the tragic history we have to endure.”64 In May 2011, only a fewweeks before the dedication of the monument, Bildu won the municipal elections.The new mayor, Pablo Barrios, chose to frame the sculpture differently, insistingthat it should commemorate “all sides which have suffered.”65 Barrios opened theinstallation ceremony to the general public, while his predecessor had intended toinvite only the representatives of victims of E.T.A., G.A.L. and General Franco’sregime. Huegun, concerned that everyone feel included, insisted that both thepresent and former mayor attend (Figure 14). They accepted, and he was gratifiedthat the event was a success with local residents attending, “very much like a

238

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

village fiesta.” Afterward, however, Zaballos criticized Barrios to the media foraltering the sculpture’s significance and symbolism and for not explicitly invitingE.T.A. victims, interpreting this as a sign of Bildu’s refusal to acknowledge them.Huegun was distressed at finding himself in the middle of the dispute debating themeaning of his sculpture. Some people, especially from the extreme left-wingBasque nationalist circle, he says no longer speak to him. In the end Huegunwas glad he was able to execute the commission according to his convictions.66

The sculpture now stands in public space, seemingly uncontested.

Figure 12. Gotzon Huegun behind two of his figurative sculptures in wood, in his studio in Hernani.2010. Photograph: Usoz.

Figure 13. Gotzon Huegun in front of his three monoliths constituting Geroaren Memoria/Memoriade Manana. Marble. Inaugurated 2011. Located in the public park Libertad/Askatasuna, Lasarte-Oria. Photograph: Txema Valles.

239

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

CONCLUSION

It is interesting to note how Mendizabal and Huegun, who usually workedfiguratively, chose an abstract style to commemorate victims of violence. Thesetwo artists, along with Olazabal and Ibarrola, made deliberate aesthetic choices,yet these did not protect them from political criticism. Culture (includinglanguage), identity, power and ideology are so intertwined in the Basque Countrythat practically everything there is political, including public art. Olazabal is areluctant anti-hero: while he wishes to move on from his former life of violentBasque militarism and to encourage political dialogue, he is received withanimosity by key political sectors. Ibarrola is a voluntary hero/anti-hero as hedeliberately takes a political side: he readily assumes the consequences of hisoutspoken political views (Spanish constitutionalist), and simultaneously is ananti-hero to Basque nationalists. Mendizabal found himself at the heart of politicalcriticism despite his attempts to convey harmony and avoid taking sides: during aparticularly tense time, he ended up being neither a hero nor an anti-hero.

Figure 14. Gotzon Huegun in front of one of his three monoliths constituting Geroaren Memoria/Memoria de Manana with current mayor Pablo Barrios to his right, and former mayor JesusZaballos to his left, on the inauguration, June 2011, Lasarte Oria. Photograph: Txema Valles.

240

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

Presently residing in France, he seeks new venues for his art away from politics inthe Basque Country. The recent example of Huegun indicates that while publiccommemorative sculptures are still contested, artists today may possibly be lesssubject to criticism on the basis of their political associations. In Huegun’s case theopposing political representatives of his town continued with their rivalry but theartist emerged relatively unscathed, other than from criticism from extremepolitical positions. The question now is whether artists in the Basque Country as itworks toward peace can be appreciated by the general public more for their artthan for their actual or perceived political stance.

It is widely expected that E.T.A. will announce its dissolution, which willhelp ease political tensions. Positions will remain entrenched, however, as long aseach camp continues to blame the other. Certain key issues must be resolved:dealing fairly with the so-called Basque political prisoners and refugees, anddeveloping and implementing effective policies to indemnify and assist all victims.Only then can Basque society embrace a collective sense of memory and identity inwhich a monument representing all victims would finally be accepted. How thecurrent impasse evolves will also depend upon who is in power and for how long.For now each side refuses to budge and tries to hold onto their power.67 In themeantime, they commission public art according to their own memories andidentities. Public artists in the Basque Country inevitably risk being perceivedpolitically. Interestingly, aesthetic variations do not appear to play a role.Opposing groups, however, do patronize different artists.

It is and remains difficult for an artist in the Basque Country to depict apolitically delicate subject without being enmeshed in controversy. Of the fourartists examined here, only Huegun’s project went smoothly, likely due to thetiming of his commission and its site in a small town where inhabitants succeededin handling their differences peacefully. Today, most artists who live and work inthe Basque Country cannot avoid its politics. Much as they may wish that thingswere otherwise, art in the Basque Country is not neutral especially when dealingwith a public memorial and tragic history. Memory is currently a critical issue notonly in the Basque Country but also in the rest of Spain, as people question whatreally happened during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) and the actions ofFranco’s regime. With the official enactment of the 2007 Law of Historic Memory,under the former Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, scholarly researchon this era has begun.68 The discovery of pits where dissidents of the Francoregime were killed and dumped prompted further reflection.69 This article is thefirst known to address specifically the politics of remembering all terrorist victimsin the Basque Country, and consider how the unresolved conflict continues tocomplicate conceptions of memory and identity. As the situation evolves, extantvictim memorials may be appreciated by people of different political positions in amore favorable light.

241

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thank Christian Thauer, Nicholas Bray, Sandra Ott, and PAD reviewers for theircommentary on earlier drafts of this article, and interview subjects in the BasqueCountry. Research for this article was made possible by the Center for BasqueStudies’ Quasi Endowment Fund, and grants from the College of Liberal Arts of theUniversity of Nevada Reno.

GLOSSARY

E.T.A.: Euskadi ta Askatasuna (Basque: Basque Country and Freedom).E.A.: Eusko Alkartasuna (Basque: Basque Solidarity).Herri Batasuna: (Basque: Popular Union). It is significant that the party’s name is

only in Basque.G.A.L.: (Spanish: Grupo Antiterrorista de Liberacion).P.N.V.: (Spanish: Partido Nacionalista Vasco)/E.A.J.: (Basque: Eusko

Alderdi Jeltzalea). I shall refer to this party by its Spanishacronym, the P.N.V., as it is most often referred to in the literaturein English.

P.P.E.: (Spanish: Partido Popular de Euskadi)/Euskadiko PPa (Basque),but this term is seldom used as Spanish remains their principallanguage. See their website: http://www.ppvasco.com/sitio/index_eu.asp (accessed 17 May 2014).

P.S.E.: (Spanish: Partido Socialista de Euskadi)/E.E. (Basque: EuskadikoEskerra). I shall refer to this party using its Spanish acronym, theP.S.E.

P.S.O.E.: (Spanish: Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol).

NOTES1 Gipuzkoa is the Basque name. In Spanish, it is Guipuzcoa. Through this article, I shall use theBasque version of the province’s name, Gipuzkoa, as this is how it is often referred to in themainstream Basque media. San Sebastian is the Spanish name for the town known in Basque asDonostia. In this article I shall refer to this city as San Sebastian as that is how it is most widelyknown, especially internationally and in English.2 http://arte.bngipuzkoa.org/es/artista/inaki-olazabal.php (accessed 5 Sept. 2013.) Since Euskadibecame an autonomous region in 1979, with its own government, and the Basque language becameco-official with Spanish, it has become the standard to use both languages in officialcommunications.3 http://elpais.com/diario/2008/04/02/paisvasco/1207165200_850215.html (accessed 5 Sept.2013).

242

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

4 My translation from the original in Spanish and Basque: http://www.fundacionfernandobuesa.com/pdf/pta-jjgg020408-1.pdf (accessed 25 Aug. 2013.)5 Alfred Gell, Art and Agency: An Anthropological Theory (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998);Timothy Van Laar and Leonard Diepeveen, Active Sights: Art as Social Interaction (Houston, TX:Mayfield Publishing Company, 1998).6 For example: John. R. Gillis, Commemorations: The Politics of National Identity (Princeton:Princeton University Press, 1996); Martin Zebracki, “Beyond Public Artopia: Public Art as Perceivedby Its Publics,” GeoJournal 78 (2013): 303–317; Nuala Johnson, “Cast in Stone: Monuments,Geography, and Nationalism,” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 13 (1995): 51–65;Barry Schwartz, “The Social Context of Commemoration: A Study in Collective Memory,” SocialForces.82 (1982): 374–402; Robert S. Nelson and Margaret Olin, Monuments and Memory, Madeand Unmade (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004); Peter Carrier, Holocaust Monumentsand National Memory Cultures in France and Germany since 1989: The Origins and PoliticalFunction of the Vel’ D’hiv’ in Paris and the Holocaust Monument in Berlin (London: BerghahnBooks, 2005); Frank Perez and Carlos Ortega, “Mediated Debate, Historical Framing, and PublicArt: The Juan De Onate Controversy in El Paso,” Aztlan: A Journal of Chicano Studies 33.2 (2008):121–140.7 Daniel. J. Sherman, The Construction of Memory in Interwar France (Chicago: University ofChicago Press, 1999); Pierre Nora, L.D. Kritzman, and A. Goldhammer, Realms of Memory:The Construction of the French Past (NY: Columbia University Press, 1998); John E. Bodnar,Remaking America: Public Memory, Commemoration, and Patriotism in the Twentieth Century(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994); Ian McBride, History and Memory in ModernIreland (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001); Olivia Munoz-Rojas, “Granite Remains:Francoist Monuments Today,” Public Art Dialogue 2.2 (2012): 147–157.8 For example: Shelley Hornstein and Florence Jacobowitz, Image and Remembrance:Representation and the Holocaust (Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2003); Tanja Schult,A Hero’s Many Faces: Raoul Wallenberg in Contemporary Monuments (Basingstoke: PalgraveMacmillan, 2012); Maoz Azaryahu, “The Power of Commemorative Street Names,” Environmentand Planning D: Society and Space 14 (1996): 311–330; Brigitte Sion, “Absent Bodies, UncertainMemorials: Performing Memory in Berlin and Buenos Aires,” Department of Performance Studies(New York: NYU, 2008). Vol. PhD Thesis. Ed. Professor Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblette; StephenDavis, “Empty Eyes, Marble Hand: The Confederate Monument and the South,” The Journal ofPopular Culture 16.3 (1982): 2–21; Gordon Fyfe and John Law, Picturing Power: Visual Depictionand Social Relations (London: Routledge, 1988); Ron Robin, “‘A Foothold in Europe’: TheAesthetics and Politics of American War Cemeteries in Western Europe,” Journal of AmericanStudies 29 (1995): 55–72; Robin Wagner-Pacifini and Barry Schwartz, “The Vietnam VeteransMemorial: Commemorating a Difficult Past,” American Journal of Sociology 97 (1991): 376–420;Murray Edelman, From Art to Politics: How Artistic Creations Shape Political Conceptions(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996).9 See Begona Aretxaga, Los Funerales En El Nacionalismo Radical Vasco: Ensayo Antropologico(San Sebastian: Baroja, 1988); Diego Muro, “The Politics of War Memory in Radical BasqueNationalism,” Ethnic and Racial Studies 32.4 (2009): 659–678; Roland Vazquez, “Commemorationand Context of a New Party Ritual,” in Politics, Culture, and Sociability in the Basque NationalistParty (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2010), 133–150.10 Jeremy MacClancy, “Art,” in Expressing Identities in the Basque Arena (Oxford: James Currey,2007), 127–150; Lyman Chaffee, “Social Conflict and Alternative Mass Communications: Public Artand Politics in the Service of Spanish-Basque Nationalism,” European Journal of Political Research16.5 (1988): 545–572; Ana Maria Guasch, Arte E Ideologia En El Pais Vasco: 1940–1980 (Madrid:Akal, 1985).11 See Ernest Renan, “What Is a Nation?,” in Nation and Narration, ed. Homi K. Bhabha (London:Routledge, 1990), 8–22; John. R. Gillis, Commemorations: The Politics of National Identity(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996); Martin Zebracki, “Beyond Public Artopia: Public

243

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

Art as Perceived by Its Publics,” GeoJournal 78 (2013): 303–17; Pierre Nora, L.D. Kritzman andA. Goldhammer, Realms of Memory: The Construction of the French Past (NY: Columbia UniversityPress, 1998); Frank Perez and Carlos Ortega, “Mediated Debate, Historical Framing, and Public Art:The Juan De Onate Controversy in El Paso,” Aztlan: A Journal of Chicano Studies 33.2 (2008):121–40; Daniel. J. Sherman, The Construction of Memory in Interwar France (Chicago, IL:University of Chicago Press, 1999); Alexandra Barahona de Brito, Carmen Gonzalez Enrıquez andAguilar Fernandez Paloma, The Politics of Memory: Transitional Justice in Democratizing Societies(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001); James Edward Young, The Art of Memory: HolocaustMemorials in History (New York: Prestel, 1994); Cher Krause Knight and Harriet F. Senie, “Editors’Statement: Memorials 2 – the Culture of Remembrance,” Public Art Dialogue 3.1 (2013): 2–5;Cameron Cartiere and Shelly Willis, The Practice of Public Art (New York: Taylor & Francis, 2008);Marisa Lerer, “Competing for Memory: Argentina’s Parque De La Memoria,” Public Art Dialogue 3.1(2013): 58–77; Olivia Munoz-Rojas, “Granite Remains.”12 My fieldwork in the region of Euskadi took place during the summer months of 2012 and 2013,involving participant observation and open and semi-structured interviews with artists, politicians,cultural actors and art amateurs.13 Zoe Bray and Michael Keating, “Divided Nations and European Integration, “ in Divided Nationsand European Integration, eds. T. J. Mabry, J. McGarry, M. Moore and B. O’Leary (Philadelphia:University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013), 127–156.14 Gobierno Vasco, Eusko Ikaskuntza, and Euskal Kultur Erakundea, Identidad Y Cultural Vascas aComienzos Del Siglo Xxi (Vitoria-Gasteiz: Basque Government, 2006). 166.15 Joseba Zulaika and William Douglass, Terror and Taboo: The Follies, Fables, and Faces ofTerrorism (London: Routledge, 1996); Zoe Bray, “Basque Militant Youths in France: NewExperiences of Ethnonational Identity in the European Context,” Nationalism and Ethnic Politics12.3–4 (2006): 533–553; Begona Aretxaga, Empire and Terror: Nationalism/Postnationalism inthe New Millennium (Reno: Center for Basque Studies, 2005); Brigitte Nacos, Terrorism andCounterterrorism: Understanding Threats and Responses in the Post-9/11 World (London:Longman Publishing, 2008); Charles Tilly, “Terror as Strategy and Relational Process,”International Journal of Comparative Sociology 46.1–2 (2005): 11–32.16 http://www9.euskadi.net/cgi-bin_k54/ver_c?CMD¼VERDOC&BASE¼B03A&DOCN¼000084140&CONF¼/config/k54/bopv_c.cnf; http://elpais.com/elpais/2008/06/19/actualidad/1213863421_850215.html (accessed 6 Nov. 2013).17 http://www.cuatro.com/noticias/Patxi-Lopez-compromete-lehendakari-vascos_0_812175001.html (accessed 6 Nov. 2013).18 http://www.intereconomia.com/noticias-gacE.T.A./politica/euskadi-celebra-10-dia-memoria-unico-victimas-del-calendario (accessed 6 Nov. 2013).19 See also http://elpais.com/diario/2008/04/02/paisvasco/1207165200_850215.html (accessed17 May 2014).20 Iker Casanova, ETA, 1958–2008: Medio Siglo De Historia (San Sebastian: Txalaparta, 2007).21 Author interview with Inaki Olazabal, June 23, 2012 in his studio, Zumaia; June 25, 2013 inZarautz; and on the telephone, September 5, 2013.22 http://www.diariovasco.com/prensa/20070526/politica/conjunto-escultorico-recordara-victimas_20070526.html (accessed 16 May 2014).23 Author interview with Inaki Olazabal, June 23, 2012 in his studio in Zumaia; June 25, 2013 inZarautz.24 Ibid.25 Author interview with Inaki Olazabal, June 23, 2012 in his studio in Zumaia; June 25, 2013 inZarautz; and on Skype, September 5, 2013.26 Eusko Abertzale Ekintza in Basque. In Spanish, it is Accion Nacionalista Vasca. This party wasalso dissolved, after being made illegal by the Spanish Supreme Court in 2008 on the grounds ofalleged closeness to E.T.A.

244

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

27 http://www.noticiasdegipuzkoa.com/2010/06/13/politica/euskadi/la-escultura-de-la-discordia.(accessed 12 Sept. 2013).28 Ibid.29 Author interview with Inaki Olazabal, June 23, 2012 in his studio in Zumaia; June 25, 2013 inZarautz; and on Skype, September 5, 2013.30 I withhold the name of the person in question for the sake of this person’s privacy. I had access tothis letter thanks to Olazabal.31 Handwritten letter in Basque to Inaki Olazabal, translated into English by myself, 2008.32 See for example http://elpais.com/diario/2003/06/27/opinion/1056664807_850215.html andhttp://www.eitb.com/es/noticias/dE.T.A.lle/761696/el-dialogo-se-abre-paso-euskadi/ (accessed 14Sept. 2013).33 Author interview with Olazabal by telephone, September 5, 2013; and interview with curatorFernando Golvano, July 17, 2013, University of the Basque Country, San Sebastian.34 http://www.jmaleman.com/Giputexto08_01.htm (accessed 16 May 2014). These two adjectivesare repeatedly used to criticize mixing different kinds of victims together. For examples of othersimilar cases, see http://ccaa.elpais.com/ccaa/2013/07/16/paisvasco/1373991495_745411.html(accessed 14 Sep. 2013).35 http://www.diariovasco.com/v/20130417/costa-urola/destrozo-escultura-inaki-olazabal-20130417.html. (accessed 14 Feb. 2014).36 MichelDeJaureguiberry,EsculturaVasca,EuskalEskultoreak (Saint JeandeLuz:Arteaz, 2011), 14.37 Javier Angulo Barturen, Ibarrola: Un Pintor Maldito? (Bilbao: Haranburu, 1978).38 As a Communist, he was an internationalist; the idea of a Basque homeland could only besecondary to obtaining the liberation of the working class and establishing Communism globally.39 http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/hemeroteca/2000/08/17/159625.shtml (accessed 25 Sep. 2013).40 http://www.minutodigital.com/actualidad2/2008/07/31/ibarrola-apoya-a-ezkerra-con-un-nuevo-faro-para-foro-ermua/ (accessed 25 Sep. 2013).41 http://elpais.com/diario/2001/11/02/cultura/1004655604_850215.html (accessed 25 Sep. 2013).42 Agustın Ibarrola, Ibarrola: Mapa De LaMemoria (Alicante: Instituto Alicantino de Cultura JuanGil-Albert, 2011).43 C.O.V.I.T.E. stands for Colectivo de Victimas del Terrorismo en Euskadi.44 http://www.levante-emv.com/sociedad/3006/victimas-terrorismo-pais-vasco-homenajean-escultor-agustin-ibarrola/159944.html; http://www.abc.es/hemeroteca/historico-18-12-2005/abc/Nacional/las-victimas-del-terrorismo-con-el-escultor-agustin-ibarrola_1013092049252.html(accessed 25 Sep. 2013).45 Ibid.46 http://www.diariovasco.com/v/20101111/politica/ibarrola-finaliza-mapa-terror-20101111.html(accessed 25 Sep. 2013).47 http://www.bastaya.org/acciones/Ibarrola/Ibarrola.htm; http://www.diariodenavarra.es/20101110/nacional/lopez-reivindica-victimas-como-argumento-fundamental-deslegitimar-terrorismo.html?not¼2010111012095792&idnot¼2010111012095792&dia¼20101110&seccion¼nacional&seccion2¼politica&chnl¼30 (accessed 17 Feb. 2014).48 Ibarrola, however, did receive the prestigious Basque art prize Gure Artea in 2011, when theBasque government was still presided by P.S.E. leader Patxi Lopez.49 http://elpais.com/diario/1992/09/11/cultura/716162404_850215.html. (accessed 17 Feb. 2014).50 http://www.teinteresa.es/libros/Ibarrola-capacidad-creativa-Oteiza-Chillida_0_1000701885.html and http://aprendersociales.blogspot.com/2007/09/la-obra-de-agustn-ibarrola.html(accessed 8 Nov. 2013).51 http://www.diarioinformacion.com/alicante/2011/03/29/memoria-victimas-terrorismo/1109884.html (accessed 25 Sep. 2013).52 These comments were made to me by two anonymous individuals, supporters of the BasqueNationalist Party, P.N.V. Name withheld for anonymity.53 Author interview with Aitor de Mendizabal at his home in Belus, France, June 27, 2013.

245

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

54 Images of these works are currently publicly unavailable. One of these was vandalized a few yearsback.55 Author interview with Aitor de Mendizabal at his home in Belus, France, June 27, 2013.56 http://www.diariovasco.com/prensa/20061012/san_sebastian/escultura-recordara-alderdi-eder_20061012.html (accessed 27 Sep. 2013).57 http://www.europapress.es/nacional/noticia-escultor-aitor-mendizabal-realizara-monumento-homenaje-victimas-terrorismo-san-sebastian-20061011124452.html (accessed 17 May 2014).58 Based on author’s ethnographic observations and conversations in the field, July 2013.59 Author interview with Aitor de Mendizabal, at his home in Belus, France, June 27, 2013.60 See Figure 11. http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2011/11/10/album/1320947573_769367.html#1320947573_769367_1320947761 (accessed 27 Sep. 2013).61 http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2012/12/10/paisvasco/1355144675.html (accessed 25Sep. 2013).62 Gotzon Huegun Skype interview with the author, September 1, 2013. See also http://www.diariovasco.com/v/20110710/comarca/obra-memoria-manana-intento-20110710.html (accessed 17Feb. 2014).63 Ibid.64 Ibid.65 http://www.rtve.es/noticias/20110630/alcalde-bildu-dedica-escultura-todas-partes-han-sufrido-conflicto-vasco/444714.shtml (accessed 25 Sep. 2013).66 Gotzon Huegun Skype interview with the author, September 1, 2013.67 For example: http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2014/04/27/actualidad/1398613561_038533.html (accessed 18 May 2014).68 Dacia Viejo-Rose, Reconstructing Spain: Cultural Heritage and Memory after Civil War(Eastbourne: Sussex Academic Press, 2011); Olivia Munoz-Rojas, Ashes and Granite: Destructionand Reconstruction in the Spanish Civil War and Its Aftermath (Eastbourne: Sussex AcademicPress, 2011); Sebastian Balfour, Alejandro Quiroga, and Ana Escartın, Espana Reinventada: NacionE Identidad Desde La Transicion (Madrid: Ediciones Penınsula, 2007).69 Aitzpea Leizaola, “La Memoire De La Guerre Civile Espagnole: Le Poids Du Silence,” Ethnologiefranc�aise 37.3 (2007): 483–491.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Angulo Barturen, Javier. Ibarrola: Un Pintor Maldito? Bilbao: Haranburu, 1978.Aretxaga, Begona. Los Funerales En El Nacionalismo Radical Vasco: Ensayo Antropologico. San

Sebastian: Baroja, 1988.———. Empire and Terror: Nationalism/Postnationalism in the NewMillennium. Reno: Center for

Basque Studies, 2005.Azaryahu, Maoz. “The Power of Commemorative Street Names.” Environment and Planning D:

Society and Space 14 (1996): 311–30.Balfour, Sebastian, Alejandro Quiroga, and Ana Escartın. Espana Reinventada: Nacion E Identidad

Desde La Transicion. Madrid: Ediciones Penınsula, 2007.Barahona de Brito, Alexandra, Carmen Gonzalez Enrıquez, and Aguilar Fernandez Paloma. The

Politics of Memory: Transitional Justice in Democratizing Societies. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press, 2001.

Bodnar, John E. Remaking America: Public Memory, Commemoration, and Patriotism in theTwentieth Century. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994.

Bray, Zoe. “Basque Militant Youths in France: New Experiences of Ethnonational Identity in theEuropean Context.” Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 12.3–4 (2006): 533–53.

246

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

Bray, Zoe and Michael Keating. “Divided Nations and European Integration.” Divided Nations andEuropean Integration. Eds. T.J. Mabry, J. McGarry, M. Moore and B. O’Leary. Philadelphia:University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013. 127–156.

Carrier, Peter.Holocaust Monuments and National Memory Cultures in France and Germany since1989: The Origins and Political Function of the Vel’ D’hiv’ in Paris and the HolocaustMonument in Berlin. London: Berghahn Books, 2005.

Cartiere, Cameron and Shelly Willis. The Practice of Public Art. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2008.Casanova, Iker. ETA, 1958–2008: Medio Siglo De Historia. San Sebastian: Txalaparta, 2007.Chaffee, Lyman. “Social Conflict and Alternative Mass Communications: Public Art and Politics in

the Service of Spanish-Basque Nationalism.” European Journal of Political Research 16.5(1988): 545–72.

Davis, Stephen. “Empty Eyes, Marble Hand: The Confederate Monument and the South.” TheJournal of Popular Culture 16.3 (1982): 2–21.

De Jaureguiberry, Michel. Escultura Vasca, Euskal Eskultoreak. Saint Jean de Luz: Arteaz, 2011.Edelman, Murray. From Art to Politics: How Artistic Creations Shape Political Conceptions.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.Fyfe, Gordon and John Law. Picturing Power: Visual Depiction and Social Relations. London:

Routledge, 1988.Gell, Alfred. Art and Agency: An Anthropological Theory. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998.Gillis, John R. Commemorations: The Politics of National Identity. Princeton, NJ: Princeton

University Press, 1996.Guasch, Ana Maria. Arte E Ideologia En El Pais Vasco: 1940–1980. Madrid: Akal, 1985.Hornstein, Shelley and Florence Jacobowitz. Image and Remembrance: Representation and the

Holocaust. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2003.Ibarrola, Agustın. Ibarrola: Mapa De La Memoria. Alicante: Instituto Alicantino de Cultura Juan

Gil-Albert, 2011.Johnson, Nuala. “Cast in Stone: Monuments, Geography, and Nationalism.” Environment and

Planning D: Society and Space 13 (1995): 51–65.Knight, Cher Krause and Harriet F. Senie. “Editors’ Statement: Memorials 2 – the Culture of

Remembrance.” Public Art Dialogue 3.1 (2013): 2–5.Leizaola, Aitzpea. “La Memoire De La Guerre Civile Espagnole: Le Poids Du Silence.” Ethnologie

franc�aise 37.3 (2007): 483–91.Lerer, Marisa. “Competing forMemory: Argentina’s Parque De LaMemoria.” Public Art Dialogue 3.1

(2013): 58–77.MacClancy, Jeremy. “Art.” In Expressing Identities in the Basque Arena. Oxford: James Currey,

2007. 127–50.McBride, Ian.History andMemory inModern Ireland. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 2001.Munoz-Rojas, Olivia. Ashes and Granite: Destruction and Reconstruction in the Spanish Civil War

and Its Aftermath. Eastbourne: Sussex Academic Press, 2011.———. “Granite Remains: Francoist Monuments Today.” Public Art Dialogue 2.2 (2012): 147–57.Muro, Diego. “The Politics of War Memory in Radical Basque Nationalism.” Ethnic and Racial

Studies 32.4 (2009): 659–78.Nacos, Brigitte. Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Understanding Threats and Responses in the

Post-9/11 World. London: Longman, 2008.Nelson, Robert S. and Margaret Olin. Monuments and Memory, Made and Unmade. Chicago:

University of Chicago Press, 2004.Nora, Pierre, L.D. Kritzman, and A. Goldhammer. Realms of Memory: The Construction of the

French Past. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998.Perez, Frank and Carlos Ortega. “Mediated Debate, Historical Framing, and Public Art: The Juan De

Onate Controversy in El Paso.” Aztlan: A Journal of Chicano Studies 33.2 (2008): 121–40.Renan, Ernest. “What Is a Nation?” Nation and Narration. Ed. Homi K. Bhabha. London:

Routledge, 1990. 8–22.

247

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014

Robin, Ron. “A Foothold in Europe’: The Aesthetics and Politics of American War Cemeteries inWestern Europe.” Journal of American Studies 29 (1995): 55–72.

Schult, Tanja. AHero’s Many Faces: Raoul Wallenberg in ContemporaryMonuments. Basingstoke:Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

Schwartz, Barry. “The Social Context of Commemoration: A Study in Collective Memory.” SocialForces 82 (1982): 374–402.

Sherman, Daniel. J. The Construction of Memory in Interwar France. Chicago: University ofChicago Press, 1999.

Sion, Brigitte. “Absent Bodies, Uncertain Memorials: Performing Memory in Berlin and BuenosAires.” Department of Performance Studies New York: NYU, 2008.

Tilly, Charles. “Terror as Strategy and Relational Process.” International Journal of ComparativeSociology 46.1–2 (2005): 11–32.

Van Laar, Timothy and Leonard Diepeveen. Active Sights: Art as Social Interaction. Houston, TX:Mayfield, 1998.

Vasco, Gobierno, Eusko Ikaskuntza, and Euskal Kultur Erakundea. Identidad Y Cultural Vascas aComienzos Del Siglo Xxi. Vitoria-Gasteiz: Basque Government, 2006.

Vazquez, Roland. “Commemoration and Context of a New Party Ritual.” Politics, Culture, andSociability in the Basque Nationalist Party. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2010. 133–50.

Viejo-Rose, Dacia. Reconstructing Spain: Cultural Heritage and Memory after Civil War.Eastbourne: Sussex Academic Press, 2011.

Wagner-Pacifini, Robin and Barry Schwartz. “The Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Commemorating aDifficult Past.” American Journal of Sociology 97 (1991): 376–420.

Young, James Edward. The Art of Memory: Holocaust Memorials in History. New York: Prestel,1994.

Zebracki, Martin. “Beyond Public Artopia: Public Art as Perceived by Its Publics.” GeoJournal 78(2013): 303–17.

Zulaika, Joseba and William Douglass. Terror and Taboo: The Follies, Fables, and Faces ofTerrorism. London: Routledge, 1996.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Zoe Bray is Assistant Professor in the Center for Basque Studies, University of Nevada Reno, USA,and Lady Davis Visiting Professor at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. Bray received herM.A. in Social Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and her Ph.D. in Social andPolitical Science from the European University Institute, Florence, Italy. Her book, LivingBoundaries: Identity in the Basque Country was published in 2004 with PIE Peter Lang; a secondedition appeared in 2011 with the Center for Basque Studies Press. Her current research focuses onthe relationship between art and politics. Bray is also an artist specializing in portrait-painting,integral to her anthropological work.

248

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

zoe

bray

] at

14:

59 0

3 O

ctob

er 2

014