Alfredo Barr

2026.09.13

As a former architect of religious structures, entering Alfredo Jaar's space feels good.

The simplicity, verticality, and procession welcomes the viewer home, offering the symbols and armth experienced since childhood: a cathedral-like space in fact. That is, until you shift your focus to the intense lighting, the incessant bright red color, and the disturbing emptiness of it all. There is no natural light. There are no windows or views to the outside. There is no way out but to retrace your steps and exit thought the slit in the curtain.

But who are we worshipping here? Rather, what? The red begins to feel like blood that has dripped covering all surfaces. This is a culture of pain, experienced by communities the world over. Innocents to the driving force that takes over their lives. Unknowing of the power structures that pull the strings, and for what? Greed. Power. Our world is a market, resources for the taking, given to the highest bidder, to the largest bribe, or whoever attacked first.

Humanity does not matter. There is no humanity in this. Invisible lines drawn on a map determine what matters. Community and connection are irrelevant. The remote edges of our world under attack. Vast ecosystems become bank accounts. Life is exchanged for power. Enough is not a word that enters the imagination.

The object of worship. The source of desire. The harbinger of death. A sacrificial altar indeed, as we have grown used to, placed on axis at the end of the procession. Yet this sacrificial altar is not veiled with inspiring symbols and allegories, it is there, plain, for all to see. The source. Unrest, war, bloodshed, deceit, power, wealth. The worst of what humanity has to offer this beautiful world we live in is represented in this 4cm by 4cm cube. Composed of the ten most sought after minerals, layered together, this heavy solid force exerted by the tech industry, crushing the delicate balance of our ecosystems, ignoring the pain of violence and human rights abuses, sits calmly, beautifully, seeming innocently, in this cathedral to progress and innovation.

Cobalt - Rare Earths - Copper - Tin - Nickel - Lithium - Manganese - Coltan - Germanium - Platinum

by John C. Clements

thinkartmagazine.com

In Association with Arroscia Residency

"Of course, some people might see it as melodramatic. But I wanted to provoke a serious thought about what’s happening to this collapsing planet. There is a lot of denial around what the next generation is going to have to live through…" –Alfredo Jarr, interview with The Berliner

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