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Santiago Sierra's Mea Culpa Survey at PAC Milan

exhibition · 2026-05-05

There's an exhibition called "Mea Culpa" at the PAC in Milan, featuring the work of Santiago Sierra, a conceptual artist from Madrid born in 1966. It highlights his impactful political art from the 1990s up to now, including some performance pieces. One standout is a 2016 sculpture that’s propped against a wall and involves a rotating group of four workers. You'll also see striking black-and-white photos, like "Una Persona Pagata per Pulire le Scarpe ai Visitatori…" from 2000 and "Ostruzione di Una Superstrada con Un Camion a Rimorchio" from 1998, both critiquing the interplay of democracy and dictatorship. Sierra even paid a thousand homeless people ten euros each to come to the opening!

Key facts

  • First extensive Italian retrospective of Santiago Sierra at PAC Milan.
  • Exhibition titled Mea Culpa runs at PAC, Milano, 2017.
  • Includes work Forma di 600 x 57 x 52cm Costruita per Essere Sostenuta Perpendicolarmente ad una Parete (2016).
  • Sculpture supported by four rotating workers at Konig Gallery, Berlin.
  • Features photographs Una Persona Pagata per Pulire le Scarpe ai Visitatori… (2000) and Ostruzione di Una Superstrada con Un Camion a Rimorchio (1998).
  • Artist critiques power structures of nation-states and regimes.
  • Sierra comments on presenting 'exotic postcards' to aware tourists.
  • Performance involved paying a thousand homeless people ten euros each to attend the opening.

Entities

Artists

  • Santiago Sierra

Institutions

  • PAC
  • Konig Gallery
  • Isisuf – Istituto Internazionale di Studi sul Futurismo di Milano
  • Artribune

Locations

  • Milan
  • Italy
  • Berlin
  • Germany
  • Madrid
  • Spain
  • Mexico City
  • Mexico

Sources