Spies and Flamenco

The Statue Uncovered Today

Vertical Garden 

These twenty-four "possible" portraits of Chelsea Manning were generated algorithmically from an analysis of her DNA. Despite being in prison with no visitation rights, the famed whistleblower managed to send the artist mouth swabs of her DNA, from which these portraits were then created. By graphically illustrating how DNA analysis can lead to multiple interpretations, the piece underscores the highly subjective nature subjective nature of DNA decoding and rebuffs the notion that identity is biologically defined and described.

 

All Stainless Steel Stairs and Floors

Moon Over Madrid

Eduardo Guerrero

In the morning we were treated to a special experience. The last time we stayed at The Principal Hotel, we had the same suite. It looks out over the city, and we could observe the restoration of a beautiful building directly across the street. The building is topped by a giant classical winged statue. All of it was shrouded in scaffolding and cloth. Today during breakfast, we looked out the window and there were workers removing the scaffolding. I am sure it will be a several days process. However, we got to see the unveiling of the restored statue. The workers were like monkeys as they worked. They wore safety harnesses and attached themselves to the scaffolding as they worked. It is back breaking work I am sure, but also looked like kind of macho fun.

We spent most of the afternoon at CaixaForum. The Caixa Foundation supports culture throughout Spain. This very modern building houses was created from an abandoned power station. One side of the building is an enormous vertical garden. The floors and stairways are stainless steel!

We came to see an exhibit right up our alley: Spies and Cinema. This exhibition explores the relationships between cinema and espionage, between fiction and historical facts, between the props and the technology used by spies, from Mata Hari to Carrie Mathison or Malotru, through James Bond and Edward Snowden. It is extensive and we both wondered if it would come to the Academy Museum in LA one day. Cathy thought it needed more focus, I enjoyed the variety of exhibits. The documentation was in English and Spanish and very good.

There were lots of clips from movies, illustrating reoccurring motifs in spy and espionage movies. Much of the language of these films were established by Alfred Hitchcock. Once again, I wondered if todays younger generations (which at my age includes about everybody) will ever watch those classic movies and if they do will they be watching them on their iPhones.

We returned to our hotel for our daily Siesta, we could get into this Madrid lifestyle.

Post siesta it was time for cocktails. Had a third bartender (I wish they could keep the same one on duty). This one failed in his Martini making. We then had red sweet Vermouth which makes for a great pre-dinner elixir.

We then went to a Flamenco show and dinner at Corral de la Morería. I know a dinner show sounds corny and touristy but believe me this one isn’t. The dancing is sexy and fantastic. We loved it as did everyone. The lead dancer Eduardo Guerrero is amazing, charismatic, sexy and quite a showman. We are officially on Spanish time. The show ended at midnight! You definitely should watch some clips on YouTube, or click on the link above.