El Muro is a showcase for projects created by the protagonists of many of the activities held in classrooms, labs, towers and other spaces inside and outside La Casa Encendida.
As part of its programme, La Casa Encendida offers different outings to natural, artistic and cultural spots.
Una visita misteriosa [A Mystery Tour]. In October, the writer, publisher and cultural activist Servando Rocha visited one of the most mysterious and least known places in the region of Madrid, the Monument to the Eyes in Ambite. This structure started out as the personal whim of a 1940s dandy, Federico Díaz-Falcón. It is decorated with ceramic tiles designed and ordered by the dandy himself. All the tiles share the same central motif, the eye, and an iconography shrouded in secrecy. The combination of biblical and religious, mythological and historical tradition with the author’s sense of humour gives this monument a profound air of mystery.
This tour is part of a series of activities related to the exhibition The Electric Eye, designed to help audiences connect with art on a more personal level. These activities propose alternatives to the passive experience of cultural consumerism and show that there are other ways of understanding art. In this case, the activity was an outing that offered participants a chance to find new stimuli for talking about the secret iconography and symbolism of the eye.
The monument has a secret, and it seems that the builder wanted visitors to enjoy this unusual sight while trying to decipher its meaning.
It was originally designed with 251 tiles which, though deteriorated by age, still give us the uncanny feeling that we are being observed by dozens of eyes. Some reproduce the eyes of famous people (Pelé, Raphael, Dalí, El Greco, Picasso, etc.), eyes from faraway places (Barcelona, Seville or Cairo), or eyes with messages—like the eye of peace, framed by two doves—related to riddles and proverbs. “A picture is worth a thousand words” and visions of the future, complete with flying saucers.
Activity offered in connection with the exhibition The Electric Eye.
