Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Art attack

That music is often used as an instrument of political torture is widely known. Take Guantanamo Bay, for instance, where prisoners were subjected to the likes of Metallica's 'Enter Sandman' and Deicide's 'Fuck Your God' repeatedly and at extremely high volume. (Not that Metallica's James Hetfield was bothered, laughing it off at the time and only last year declaring "I'm honoured my country is using something to help us stay safe".)

But I wasn't aware that modern art had been deployed for the same purpose, as it was during the Spanish Civil War by republicans. Captured nationalist supporters of General Franco found themselves imprisoned in cells designed by Alphonse Laurencic, who took inspiration from Salvador Dali and others in deliberately seeking to disorient the occupants.

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