In the expectation of those who observed him, spilled his champagne on the floor of the set of “La Tarde”, the program TVE that aired between 1983 and 1989. He was a Cesar Manrique dressed in an unusual tuxedo and, his action, a protest against what was happening in the lanzarote island in the 70’s.
“I want to pour it out like a curse on the speculators who are getting rich in the short term from this island, which can become a World Heritage Site and a jewel for Spain and the Canary Islands,” he snapped..
The fragment is collected in “Utopia Manrique” (2022), an audiovisual piece directed by Miguel G. Morales and co-produced by the César Manrique Foundation and RTVE.
The documentary portrays, among other highlights of the artist, his legacy in environmental activism.
The César Manrique Foundation details on its website the artist’s route before and during that period of interest in protecting the environment, which took place between the 1970s and 1980s.
return from new york
In 1968 he returned to Lanzarote after the successes achieved in New York, where exhibited three times at the Catherine Viviano gallery and acquired a visual culture of abstract expressionism, pop and kinetic art.
There, Manrique became aware of the power of the media and, over time, He also became a communicator who showed ability to bring an environmental message closer “even the media that approached him because of the man, the eccentric artist,” says Miguel G. Morales in a conversation with EFE.
Once he arrived in Lanzarote, says the filmmaker, His impulse was to move the island forward, but he soon saw tourism that had nothing to do with the friendly, sensitive and protectionist relationship that he wanted for his land..
The first canarian ecologist
The important thing, he stresses, is that spoke of environmentalism and the environment when nobody did in the Canary Islandsand proposed a more ethical style with the island’s infrastructure, such as its commitment to pedestrian cities and the elimination of billboards.
“He used his media power to fight against speculation and mass tourism”adds the researcher and filmmaker when he points out that his relationships and successes were the raw material with which he wanted to save the island.
One of his friends was José Ramírez Cerdá, who was the president of the Lanzarote council of the time.
“Once he arrived from New York, he told Cerdá that he had found his truth: to revisit his island and see it again with different eyes. And he did so with the mark he left in spaces such as the Jameos del Agua or the Mirador del Río “, Add.
against speculation
The artist opposed tourist projects such as the construction of a shopping center on the lava flows of the La Corona volcano, near Caletón Blanco beach, as well as the hotel on Los Pocillos beach, also in Lanzarote.
“It is unfortunate that the authorities do not stop this kind of chaotic speculation that is coming in the most catastrophic way. And when the moment of absolute destruction arrives, it will be irreversible,” the artist once said..
For Cristina Mahelo, an activist and journalist specializing in communication and gender, her discourse is still current on the islands
He feels sad to think that progress has not been made, but he is hopeful that it is up to them to resume it to achieve something better..
Evolution of activism
Miguel Morales expresses the validity of a proclamation that connects with the current generation because it exhibits “a very powerful truth that was transmitted with a modern mentality.”
The background of the current complaint continues to be situated in the consequences of mass tourism that they observe: the destruction of the landscape and the difficulties of access to housing.
Morales explains that This postmodern activism has advanced, above all, in formation.
He has put his work at the service of projects such as Salvar La Tejita, in Tenerifeand adds that environmental activism now has a more specialized team and greater communication skills.
The filmmaker cites some of them: the urban planner architect María Tomé, who has participated in the opposition to the construction of the Cuna del Alma urbanization, in Adeje (Tenerife); the documentalist and graduate in Marine Sciences Felipe Ravina, with documentary projects such as “Save Tenerife”; the botanical biologist Atteneri Rivero, the marine biologist Pablo Martín, and the specialist in terrestrial biodiversity Adrián Flores.
Other postmodern referents
Outside of the scientific realm, the Canary archipelago also has postmodern references in art, as is the case of the local artist Cruz Cafuné and Cristina Mahelo, who share their musical productions on their social networks.
Cruz Cafuné, Cruzzi or Carlos Bruñas Zamorín (Tenerife, 29 years old) has expressed his canariness through his songs, either with the island lexicon or with his own sentiment.
With his verses he has shouted what the most active Canarian activists defend. “Then I understood that the Canary Islands is only a paradise for foreigners and gangsters”, she sings in Lila & Snitch (2021).
When this current wave of artistic and Canarian activism is portrayed, Mahelo highlights its updates with the seal of digitization and a greater capacity to bring political discourse closer to the depoliticized citizen.
Despite the characteristics of this activism, openly, more explicit and with a ‘decolonial’ perspective, Cristina Mahelo assumes that territorial advances have been scarce because, today, “being an activist is a privilege”.
“Once again, a system that has us suffocated, in abusive days, in order to survive, wins again,” says Cristina when she thinks of the feeling of guilt that resurfaces when there is neither time nor space to exercise the social movement.
