The Sant Andreu Civic Center hosts until September 19 the exhibition Deixar fer, deixar passar (Let it be, let it pass), a show that presents the works developed during the SAC-FiC 2025 Residency Program by Maria Kastillejof, Daniel Cao, and Pol Pintó.
The title of the exhibition comes from the French expression "Laissez faire et laissez passer, le monde va de lui même" ("Let it be, let it pass, the world goes by itself"), linked to the free market policies of the capitalist world. The exhibition questions this idea and poses a question: what is this world that seems to function by itself?
According to the exhibition's approach, it is a world that has been naturalized as universal and neutral, despite its economic growth being based on unequal structures, extractivist dynamics, and social control practices.
The projects of Pol Pintó, Daniel Cao, and Maria Kastillejof
From diverse perspectives, the three artists participating in the exhibition investigate the mechanisms of control and privilege that sustain this model of society.
Pol Pintó focuses his research on an everyday element that often goes unnoticed: the numbering of cities. He reminds us that the original function of numbers on facades was to facilitate military recruitment, tax collection, and population surveillance. A practice that generated strong social rejection and that today is linked to surveillance systems and contemporary militarization.
For his part, Daniel Cao focuses on parks and gardens, spaces that are usually perceived as neutral. His work shows how the design of these places conditions social dynamics and forms of interaction. Through the creation of virtual gardens and spaces within the video game Animal Crossing, he proposes new forms of relationship between users outside of power structures.
Finally, Maria Kastillejof addresses the phenomenon of copying and counterfeiting in China. Her proposal highlights the creative and subversive potential of these artifacts in the face of economic power. Through resources such as parody and satire, she invites visitors to rethink the way we understand what is often considered universal or neutral.
The Sant Andreu Civic Center, a space for contemporary art
The exhibition can be visited at the Sant Andreu Civic Center, a local public facility that has a stable program of exhibitions, cultural activities, and proposals linked to visual and performing arts. With a commitment to contemporary creation and support for emerging artists, this cultural center has been consolidating itself as a space for meeting, participation, and cultural dissemination in Sant Andreu and the city of Barcelona.
