Francoist architecture in Spain: problems of use, conservation and restoration in democracy.
David Martin Lopez
Lecture summary
Spain, just like the rest of the democracies emerging from dictatorships and totalitarian regimes in a large part of Europe around the 20th century, has adopted or can adopt different attitudes and is open to different interpretations on the problematic cultural legacy inherited by this past. This has been, and still is, a matter of dispute and its integration as a part of a collective memory of the past has not been resolved in a satisfactory manner in our society today. The objective of this lecture is to analyse the architecture created during the Franco dictatorship which represent the glorification of this political regime and the actions that should be taken (conservation, modification, destruction, use, etc.) to adapt them to ethical and legal requirements as demanded by the democratic system in Spain. The above research is part of the R&D&I project Heritage and the Memory of Francoism: Conservation or Resignification in Democratic Spain (PAMEFRA). PID2019-111709GB-I00. MINISTERIODE CIENCIAE INVESTIGACIÓN.
Short CV
David Martín López holds a European PhD in Art History by the University of Granada (2010), with the Outstanding Doctorate Award. He is professor at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Granada where he directs the Universitarian Cultural Centre of Casa de Porras, Vice-rectorate of Outreach and Heritage. He has done several academic stays in England, France and Portugal. In those countries he did his Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Univ. Nova de Lisboa (2011-2013), granted by the Spanish Ministry. His research activities are focused on the Freemasonic aesthetics, architecture during the European regimes and hermetic symbolism and subversion in Art History. He is co-director of the Spanish R+D+I PID2019-111709GB-I00.PAMEFRA. patrimonio y memoria del franquismo, and member of the Spanish R+D+I projects HAR 2009-10554/Arte campo artístico y sociedad en España. (2010-2013), and HAR 2012-31321: El artista y el dolor (2012-2015), ECSTRA European Project, Project Rimon-Sefarad B-HUM-227-UGR18. He has been part of Academic Sessions of the EAUH in Lyon, Prague and Rome, or the EAA at Barcelona (2018), and has participated in DOCOMOMO’s Conference at Slovenia (2018). He has edited the book Between categories, beyond boundaries: Arte, ciudad e identidad (2013) and Suffering in Contemporary Art (2018).