Castillo negro

2014/ 2019

Project whose starting point is an anthropomorphic plaster sculpture by Manuel Delgado Villegas, el Arropiero (1943-1998), between the years 1970 and 1980 during his confinement in the Madrid Prison Psychiatric Center Prison Psychiatric Carabanchel.

«When you arrived at the Psychiatric Hospital, the first thing they informed you was, a bit as if to tell you: -So that you realize where you are and who we are dealing with, and that, in short, this is still dangerous, it can have dangerous aspects and that this is a site that can be valued for it It is because there were «criminals» or people who had participated or who had caused socially striking events in the «crime area.» So, the first thing they pointed out to you was: this, this, this and the other. To the extent that you were interested in it, a dozen or so did not appear to you, whether you were interested or not. The most notable ones did appear to you: Manuel Delgado Villegas, «the Germans» … Those appeared to you because of course, their past, on the street, had been «criminal», it had been very striking. As they say today, social alarm: everything. Manuel Delgado Villegas was part of this «tandem» that «gave prestige» to the Institution because he was a «serial criminal» (…) And he gave it because, on the other hand, he was a person that I never saw him … no he was a person bowed down by a medication. In the moments when I know him, he does not appear as bowed, he always maintains a kind of confrontation or attitude, let’s say, in front of what there is. And somehow it does not go in common, it is a kind of character that goes alone. It has a special configuration. It is not bent by the Institution. (…) Without this meaning that he did not go through «the ring of common mortals» that was there. What happens is that these personalities used to be in what they called the «Observation Department», with which they had an individual cell … very poorly accommodated, the tools they had there were very painful … and they were left there as «living at their own pace» … they had the typical pedal service, a very basic bed, that is, all the very basic furniture: the minimum. Now yes, they were in their cell, and somehow they were almost allowed to do whatever they wanted in that cell. There was no special attention to cleanliness … They were a bit exclusive personalities … they did not mount everyday fuss … they were unique. There was always an official there, because downstairs was the «Agitated Department» that controlled both the entrance to the «Observation Department» and the «Agitated Department». It was a department in that sense very careful so that not just anyone could enter. It was one of the most outdated departments, almost in a state of demolition. (…)»

Transcript of the interview with Jesús Rubio Sarabia (Montiel, Ciudad Real, 1945) prison officer who worked in the Modelo prison in Barcelona, in the Penitentiary Psychiatric Center and in the adjacent Carabanchel prison (Madrid) and in the Navalcarnero prison (Madrid).

Madrid, 2014.

The results were shown in the individual exhibition Castillo negro in the Espacio Olvera gallery (Seville). January, February and March 2019.

This works has been produced with the support of the grant to Creation program 2017 of the City Council of Madrid.

Art critic article: «Dar forma a la mente criminal» by Ivan de la Torre Americhi. ABC Cultural. 2 February 2019.