Catalonian Nationalism and the MACBA

Last night, while out on a date with a nice Catalonian nurse boy, Marc, I got my first true taste of the Catalonian nationalist spirit. We went to MACBA (Contemp. art museum) and had been checking out the various exhibits it had to offer. I really enjoyed a lot of it. On the other hand, Marc spent half the time saying that his 4-year-old cousin could have done a better equal or better execution of the modern and post-modern art that inhabited the museum. It frankly got irritating that he could not stop and ask himself that maybe it's not all about the execution of the work, but also the concept. I tried to explain it to him, but he wasn't satisfied.

This was his reaction to pretty much everything we say, save on big exception. There was a giant Spanish flag in part of a vaguely anti-Nazi/Franco art installation. When he saw it, he refused to go into the room it was in. He became someone irate over the fact that a Catalonian museum would even dare put up a Spanish flag. I argued that it wasn't about how magnificent Spain was, instead it was about hypocrisy and the backwardness of the Spanish history. He protested that it doesn't matter what it means. It's simply disrespectful and insulting to put up such a flag. We argued for a while about the responsibilities of an art museum to its surroundings. He still plans on telling everyone he knows to complain about the exhibit. I think Catalonian Nationalists probably have better things to do.... but maybe not. I didn't realize how serious people took their nationalism. Some people, like Marc, don't even consider Catalonia to be a part of Spain, and they resent everything that represents Spain that has infiltrated the border - like flamenco, gazpacho, y bull fighting.