The "Barceló" scandal

Fundación ONUART has commissioned top contemporary Spanish artist Miquel Barceló to create a unique ceiling painting for Room XX, an enormous 1500m2 ellipsoidal dome at the United Nations office in Geneva. This meeting venue will host the Human Rights Council and will be one of the largest and most state-of-the-art of all the negotiating rooms at the Palais des Nations: the  “Chamber for Human Rights and for the Alliance of Civilisations” will be the room’s official title following its inauguration.
 

Using over one hundred tonnes of paint with pigments from all corners of the globe, specially designed equipment, and with the involvement of specialists in various disciplines, including from particle physics laboratories, engineers, architects and others in heritage restoration, Miquel Barceló has gathered  a team to overcome unprecedented technical and artistic challenges for the completion of this ambitious project. 

The project began on 9 April 2007 and over the following two months the room’s original interior was dismantled, along with its plaster dome. A new super-strength, custom-made aluminium structure for the dome was put in place and M. Barceló started work on 1 September.
All this major refurbishment and renovation has cost more than 18 million dollars; 7 millions come directly from the Spanish government, apparently taken from a development aid fund. Spanish newspapers and blog express disapproval.

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