Precious Okoyomon: When the Lambs Rise Up Against the Bird of Prey 

The Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Madrid Foundation, in collaboration with the Madrid City Council, presents the first exhibition by Precious Okoyomon (London, 1993) in Spain, When the Lambs Rise Up Against the Bird of Prey. This exhibition curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist will be on display until 3 April inside Montaña de los gatos in Madrid’s El Retiro Park, a newly renovated space in the city centre which in itself is considered a total work of art (Gesamtkunstwerk) due to its combination of multiple disciplines.

Okoyomon has recreated a forest within the Mountain impregnated with the scent of the earth, trees and flowers, which hides an animatronic lamb amongst its exuberant vegetation. The lamb is a paradoxical symbol of suffering and triumph inspired by the text after which the exhibition is named, written by the poet and essayist Anne Boyer. In contrast to the traditional idea, the lamb is interpreted as a wise and intuitive creature, capable of outliving predators and apocalyptic scenarios. The music that accompanies the spectator is based on notes and fragments of the unfinished utopian work Mysterium by Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) and poems by Okoyomon, which have been arranged by the composer Juan Manuel Artero. Okoyomon transforms the wild divinity of Scriabin’s unfinished vision through the sensory environment of the forest, which resonates with the sound of chanting. 

“These sounds are a kind of endless prayer or ode that echoes continuously throughout the space, giving voice to the lamb as an instrument of its own salvation. By reinterpreting Boyer’s text and Scriabin’s final composition, Okoyomon presents their own version of the end of the world,” says curator Hans Ulrich Obrist.