Canto XVIII: fabricación de armas

The glow of the fire rising towards the sky can be a call for solidarity in times of danger, a sign so that those who are far away can see us. In confrontations, the air has been and continues to be where different tactics are deployed, although not always in connection to the search for help. The deployment of smoke screens, atmospheric disturbances or the use of nerve gases are military techniques invented to stun or eliminate the other.

This project takes as a starting point the 18th book of the Iliad, one of the first stories detailing the manufacture of a weapon – the shield of Achilles at the hands of Hephaestus, god of the forge – to trace true stories of technical, military and population control inventions associated with confusion, fascination of the senses and visual hallucinations. The circularities and elliptical jumps of these stories converge in a new shield or defensive surface that has a twofold purpose: it unveils the confusion techniques that surround us, while protecting our response strategies from the threat of transparency.

Credits

Production: CeGe Global

Antonio Gagliano and Verónica Lahitte

Antonio Gagliano and Verónica Lahitte live and work in Barcelona.

Gagliano is an artist and researcher born in Córdoba (Argentina). Trained in editorial and diagrammatic practices, his works unfold in long processes in which he mobilises narratives and registers to reorganise them in disruptive ways. His recent exhibitions include "Fabular paisatges" (Palau Victòria Eugènia, 2025) and "[contra]panorama" (MACBA, 2024). He is the author of State of the Art (V_____erlag für Handbücher, 2019) and El espíritu del siglo xx (Álbum, 2014). He worked for a decade as editor of Ràdio Web MACBA, and since early 2020, he has been responsible for research programmes at Hangar, a centre for artistic production and research.

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Lahitte is an artist and researcher born in Buenos Aires. In the production of hybrid projects, she rehearses rewritings and reconstructions that attempt to demystify the modern languages of domination. She has participated in exhibitions such as "Fabular paisatges" (Palau Victòria Eugènia, 2025), "[contra]panorama" (MACBA, 2024) or "La tradició que ens travessa" (Santa Mònica, 2022). She is the author of De la diferencia entre lo temporal y lo eterno (V_____erlag für Handbücher, 2018) and contributed to Lo demás, se desea. Montajes (Funes Editora, 2023). She was a member of the Publishing Guild at Les Mòniques (2023-2024 and 2024-2025) and, since 2019, has been part of the editorial team of Ràdio Web MACBA.

www.veronicalahitte.net