{"id":149025,"date":"2025-09-12T11:23:33","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T09:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mallorcaglobalmag.es\/exposicion-hem-arribat-infern-bous-costitx\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T12:10:37","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T10:10:37","slug":"exposicion-hem-arribat-infern-bous-costitx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mallorcaglobalmag.es\/en\/exposicion-hem-arribat-infern-bous-costitx\/","title":{"rendered":"The Museu de Mallorca invokes the Bous de Costitx with the exhibition ‘Hem arribat a l\u2019infern!’ by Bernard\u00ed Roig"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Exhibition<\/p>\n

The Museu de Mallorca<\/strong> (Museum of Mallorca) hosts until 21 September<\/strong> the exhibition “Bernard\u00ed Roig. Hem arribat a l\u2019infern!”<\/strong> (Bernard\u00ed Roig. We Have Arrived in Hell!), a proposal that is part of the Biennal B<\/strong>, an initiative by the Consell de Mallorca<\/strong>\u00a0and Es Baluard Museu d\u2019Art Contemporani<\/strong>. The work reflects on the absence of the Bous de Costitx<\/strong> (Costitx Bulls), emblematic pieces of Talayotic culture, and was inaugurated yesterday, 11 September, coinciding with the Diada de Mallorca<\/strong><\/a> (Mallorca Day), in a large-scale event with a performance and batucada that transformed the museum into a striking audio-visual environment.<\/p>\n

The installation, curated by Jackie Herbst and Sof\u00eda Borr\u00e1s<\/strong>, features a nine-metre altar<\/strong> where plaster fragments \u2014copies of the original heads preserved in the museum\u2014 coexist with dust, rubble, and sculptural remnants. A strobe light interrupts continuous perception and highlights the fragility of presence, creating a tension between what is visible and what is absent. According to Roig, “what we see is not what is there, but what is looking at us.”<\/p>\n

\"Exhibition

Opening of the exhibition “Bernard\u00ed Roig. Hem arribat a l\u2019infern!” at the Museu de Mallorca. Photos: Consell de Mallorca (Mallorca Council).<\/p><\/div>\n

The president of the Consell de Mallorca, Lloren\u00e7 Galm\u00e9s<\/strong>, highlighted that “this exhibition invites us to look at our heritage symbols<\/strong> differently and to reflect on what is present and what is missing. The Bous de Costitx are an essential part of our identity<\/strong>, and through this installation Bernard\u00ed Roig offers us a poetic and unsettling journey<\/strong> that places Mallorca at the centre of contemporary artistic debate<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

The Bous de Costitx, Talayotic Icons<\/h2>\n

The Bous de Costitx<\/strong>\u00a0are three bronze sculptures dating from the 5th to 3rd centuries BC,<\/strong> discovered in 1895 at the sanctuary of Son Corr\u00f3 (Costitx)<\/strong>. They are currently housed at the Museo Arqueol\u00f3gico Nacional de Madrid<\/strong> (National Archaeological Museum of Madrid), which has led to historical demands for their return to Mallorca<\/strong>. Highly realistic and detailed, these pieces stand out for the expressive strength of their snouts and nostrils, as well as the meticulous finishing on ears, veins, and fur. They are considered one of the jewels of Talayotic art<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The curators highlighted that Roig’s work functions as a grand still life of memory<\/strong>, where popular imagination, chance, and the claim for the return of the pieces converge in a narrative that questions the boundaries of representation.<\/p>\n

Bernard\u00ed Roig, a multidisciplinary artist<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Exhibition

The artist Bernard\u00ed Roig (right), alongside the Vice President of the Consell de Mallorca and Minister of Culture and Heritage, Ant\u00f2nia Roca, and the president of the Consell de Mallorca, Lloren\u00e7 Galm\u00e9s.<\/p><\/div>\n

Bernard\u00ed Roig<\/strong> (Palma, 1965) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans sculpture, video, drawing, painting, and writing. His work focuses on themes such as isolation, desire, and the fragility of the human figure, with a language close to minimalism and conceptualism. Over his career, he has exhibited in international museums and institutions such as the Kunstmuseum Bonn<\/strong>, the Alte Pinakothek in Munich<\/strong>, the Triennale di Milano<\/strong>, the Centre Pompidou M\u00e1laga<\/strong>, and the Museo Arqueol\u00f3gico Nacional de Madrid. His pieces, unsettling and poetic, function as devices of solitude and reflection, and have been recognised with awards such as the Prix International d\u2019Art Contemporain de la Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco<\/strong> (2003).<\/p>\n

“Hem arribat a l\u2019infern!” represents the final part of a cycle that Bernard\u00ed Roig has dedicated in recent years to the bronze bulls. Following \u201cEl laberinto de luz y la cabeza del Minotauro\u201d<\/strong> (The Labyrinth of Light and the Minotaur\u2019s Head) in the Centre Pompidou M\u00e1laga (2022) and \u201cCaps [y] Bous. El tercer cuerno\u201d <\/strong>(Heads [and] Bulls. The third horn) in the Museo Arqueol\u00f3gico Nacional (2025), the proposal concludes in Mallorca, returning with strong resonance.<\/p>\n

The project will conclude on 25 September<\/strong>, with a conference-performance by the philosopher and art critic Fernando Castro Fl\u00f3rez<\/strong> at the sanctuary of Son Corr\u00f3 (Costitx)<\/strong>, the site of the original discovery.<\/p>\n

Exhibition details<\/h3>\n