The University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) has filed a complaint with the National Police for the disappearance of three works ceded to the university center by José MarÃa Sicilia, José Manuel Broto and Xavier Mariscal 35 years ago. These are works that were donated in 1988 after these painters participated in a campaign against the urbanization of sa Canova, an unspoilt area in the north of the island.
A fourth work painted by the Mallorcan artist Miquel Barceló has been recovered after its current owner, who acquired it at auction for 10,000 euros, returned it upon learning of these circumstances. The works of these four artists, along with others by Tà pies and Campano, were donated to the university center following an initiative by Barceló himself in defense of this natural space.
In 1988, an urban project was launched to build an unspoiled area of ​​Mallorca, Sa Canova, in the midst of enormous social protest. The environmental group GOB and part of civil society, including the University itself, began a campaign to try to prevent the construction of this complex and demand its protection.
Miquel Barceló encouraged a collective of artists to donate an original work to make posters and finance the campaign, and these six artists participated in it, donating their works. Nothing is known for sure about what happened to the three missing works; Tà pies’s presides over the center’s Board of Directors room and Campano’s work appears in the center’s artistic inventory, but track of the other four had been lost years ago until Barceló’s appeared.
The disappearance was discovered when the Barceló work, which was in the hands of an owner who had previously purchased it for 10,000 euros, went up for auction. Those responsible for the university center went to the auction house to stop the sale and contacted the depositary. The work is already in the hands of the UIB after the owner returned it voluntarily and without demanding any compensation.
The UIB has presented this Tuesday the painting recovered after the efforts made by the Office of the Vice President for Cultural Projection, which contacted the artists, who confirmed the donation made 35 years ago. All of them signed a document acknowledging the donation. The university center now assures that its objective is to recover a university heritage, which is also a social heritage linked to Mallorca and the defense of the island’s natural spaces.
