Mayor Collboni and his army of cultural advisors have decided that the best way to end the fuss of the annual controversy over the Nativity scene in Plaza Sant Jaume is to eliminate the Nativity scene! A few days ago, we learned that the scene of the birth of the Nazarene (whether traditional or deconstructed) will be replaced by a giant star with 20 points, four meters long each, made of methacrylate and LED lights, conceived by architect and artist Xevi Bayona and digital artist Àlex Posada. Since we are in times of national pacification and a third way, the City Council has also announced that the traditional Nativity scene, created by the Associació de Pessebristes, will be moved from the Museu Marès to the Pati dels Carruatges of the consistory. If until now the controversy subsisted between moderniquis and traditionalists, the administration has decided to end the war by stuffing the Christmas spirit of both into the same bag.
I understand that our mayor wants to shake off second-order controversies, but the problem with traditions is precisely that one cannot choose them. In the case at hand, the custom in question is the controversy itself; in other words, for many Barcelonans, the annual performance of the remodeling of the Nativity scene comme il faut and the subsequent squabble has ended up being a ritual act with greater impact than Christmas itself. In fact, if Ada Colau's administration was expert in anything, it was precisely in subordinating the boring management of daily politics to community symbols with greater media publicity. This is how the former mayor of Barcelona awaited the Nativity scene controversy with the same frenzy with which she avoided evictions. By scandalizing the tietes, Colau always tried to raise the flag of a supposed artistic risk and its religious syncretism.
The problem with all of this is that the aspiration to annul or make symbols cohabit also turns out to be a content-driven gamble, no matter how much it is disguised and, as I said before, Sant Jaume has become a kind of empty canvas where any appearance is denotative. In this case, the star of Sant Jaume (according to the City Council's website) is meant to signify the creation of the universe "in which a great explosion transformed darkness into light and energy." In turn, and when night falls, the star will be the center of a daily immersive show in thirty-minute sessions, which will be combined with a nativity scene that aims to bring "to the center of Barcelona the smell of the sea, a link between the two great sources of inspiration for the proposal: the commemoration of the centenary of the poet Salvat-Papasseit, who worked on the Moll de la Fusta and evoked it in some of his verses, and the America's Cup sailing race, which concluded a few weeks ago."
The real revolution that could be made in Plaça Sant Jaume and throughout the city would be to give it back to the citizensIt is not necessary to be a great expert in Catalan poetry or in Salvat-Papasseit to understand that, if he were to find himself in this comparison, our most illustrious Barcelonian (anarchist and radical defender of Catalan identity) would end up having spasms all over his body. But that doesn't matter, since what is important here is to see how all that symbiosis of elements that are made to look good and so many forced amalgamationsnor do they end up doing a favor when trying to make Barcelona something more than a boulevard of immersive pieces or traditional nativity scenesIn the city, as has been happening for many years now, there is a lack of initiatives that generate a minimum of artistic content (and political, which is the same) and that do not make us blush with shame. I would propose a very simple one: at Christmas and every day, leave Plaça Sant Jaume in peace, because the residents who live nearby already suffer enough inconveniences.
Perhaps it seems boring to you, but for me the authentic revolution that could be made in Plaça Sant Jaume and throughout the city would be to give it back to the citizens. The inhabitants of the Gòtic already suffer enough intrusion from tourism and the "guiri" world for a herd of cretins to be added every Christmas in search of the annual controversy and its consequent selfie. I do not doubt the good faith of the administration, although I usually distrust people who want to please everyone; for all these reasons, I beg you to join the authentic, atheist, and very Barcelona catharsis of leaving the streets in peace. This idea, believe me, our great poet Papasseit would love.