Ironía: Irony as Critical Tool in Contemporary Art at Fondation Miró

Curated by Fernando Barenblit, the exhibition 'Ironía' at Fondation Miró in Barcelona (September 20, 2001 – November 4, 2001) and later at Koldo Mitxelena Kulturunea in San Sebastian (December 4, 2001 – February 2, 2002) argues that irony is a fundamental attitude for contemporary art's engagement with reality. Barenblit's catalogue essay posits that accepting an inevitable ironic distance is key to maintaining relevance. The show takes Bruce Nauman's 'The true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths' and Marcel Broodthaers as reference points. Artists such as Christian Jankowski, Maurizio Cattelan, Rogelio López Cuenca, Jeff Koons, Ibon Aranberri, Zbigniew Libera (with Lego concentration camps), Liliana Porter, Wim Delvoye, Francis Alÿs, and Tere Recarens (with an escapable room) explore irony's critical and socio-political dimensions. Antonio Ortega built a monumental wall hiding a patented device, exemplifying irony's oscillation between form and void. The exhibition emphasizes irony as a mode of resistance through contradiction.