Bergonzoni’s “The Negotiating Table” at the European Parliament in Brussels

Brussels – “We are living in a time when war is once again being legitimised as a political tool.” This is how MEP Marco Tarquinio, a member of the S&D Group, presented the art project by Alessandro Bergonzoni, an Italian actor, author, and artist. The work, entitled “The Negotiating Table”, arrived at the European Parliament in Brussels today (30 June). 

Specifically, it is a table situated on the third floor of the building, between a corridor and some columns. A strategic spot where everyone passes by and can see the artwork. Instead of legs, however, Bergonzoni’s table is supported by prosthetic human limbs. In this way, Bergonzoni wishes to remind us that “anyone who sits at the negotiating table, doing so late and poorly, does so because someone is supporting them,” because human lives are at stake. 

“It gives me great pleasure to think that the politicians who pass by this artwork will see these limbs,” commented the artist. Meanwhile, Tarquinio pointed out how many deaths and injuries are needed before negotiations can begin. “We are repeating an obscene ritual,” agreed Mr Tarquinio, “we are piling victim upon victim to give weight to the negotiating table.” 

According to Tarquinio, “Bergonzoni is a man of words” who has “crystallised them in a work that prompts reflection on the only side from which it is possible to experience a war: the side of the victims.” And “there is an eloquent connection,” he concluded, “between his genius and the actions of those who stand alongside the victims in theatres of war.” The reference is to Emergency, which donated the prosthetics needed to create the artwork.