Equal-Parallel: Guernica-Bengasi, by Richard Serra (1986)
Materials: laminated Corten steel

03/04/17 - Right where the building of the Reina Sofía Museum turns into cloisters with views to the gardens and Alexander Calder's mobile, you'll find the room that houses Richard Serra's sculpture (USA, 1939). "Equal-Parallel: Guernica-Bengasi" was specially created for the 1986 exhibition "Referencias", held for the opening of the Reina Sofía.

The sculpture is made of four Corten steel solid blocks of 148.5 cm (thus the "equal elevations" of the title), a height that relates to that of the windowsill in the room.

Two of the blocks are rectangular and of the same thickness and Serra placed them in such a way that there's a space in between them through which we can walk. As in all Serra's artworks, the experimentation is visual and corporal. The other two blocks are square and located in the back, only to be discovered when we move around the room.

In spite of their shape, the artist explains that the pieces are not a tribute to anyone's memory, place or  event. However, the title of the sculpture marks a similarity with two historical events: the 1937 bombing of civilians in Guernica and the attack to the Libyan city of Bengasi, in 1986, year in which the artwork was created. According to Serra, both events are of equal importance, so the blocks have all the same height.

The room, a sculpture in itself, calls for the free movement of the visitors, who are able to walk between the perfect equilibrium and symmetry of the pieces which, although Serra denies it, look quite like anonymous grave-stones.