Ephemeral Art Center in Mahón
Art is Trash Opens Ephemeral Art Center in Mahón with a Powerful New Installation at Oximoron Art Hub
A new era of urban art, activism, and experimental exhibition has begun in Menorca. At the intersection of decay and expression, a striking new cultural space has opened its doors: Oximoron Art Hub, located at 37–40 José María Cuadrado Street in Mahón, is being inaugurated with the provocative and unmistakable work of Spanish street artist Francisco de Pájaro, also known as Art is Trash.
This ephemeral art center, conceived by entrepreneur Benito Esca, breathes new life into a formerly abandoned building by transforming it into a hub of temporary exhibitions and anti-conventional creativity. The project aims to host an evolving roster of contemporary and alternative artists until the end of September. It’s a space dedicated not to commercial sales or polished aesthetics, but to the raw, spontaneous, and political spirit of street and outsider art.
Art is Trash in Menorca: Turning Garbage into Provocation
Francisco de Pájaro—whose artistic persona Art is Trash has stunned audiences worldwide from Barcelona to London, New York, and now Mahón—was given the ground floor of Oximoron to debut a new body of work. As always, he makes use of what society leaves behind.
Using discarded waste, found objects, and consumer junk collected in the streets of Menorca—tires, cardboard boxes, broken electronics, old toilets, mattresses, and dismantled motorbikes—he crafts humanoid figures, monsters, and chaotic installations that scream without speaking. Each piece is a satirical, sarcastic reaction to modern society, often with a painfully accurate punchline.
This new exhibit at Oximoron is both site-specific and ideologically charged. Many of the sculptures reference one of Francisco's most persistent concerns: the destructive overuse of technology, especially smartphones, tablets, and digital surveillance systems. In one piece, dismembered mobile phones are embedded into the heads of trash figures. In another, a child-sized mannequin holds a plastic screen like a mirror, disconnected from reality. It’s not subtle—and it’s not meant to be.
“These are devices we give our children so they leave us alone,” says de Pájaro. “But they were created for military purposes. Now, they’re used to control us.”
This sentiment lies at the heart of Art is Trash’s creative rebellion. The sculptures are improvised but calculated. Every bottle cap, every burnt wire, every rotting sofa has a place in his narrative—a visual protest against political manipulation, consumer dependency, and cultural numbness.
Oximoron Art Hub: A Space for Resistance and Renewal
The creation of Oximoron Art Hub is itself a symbol of transformation and contradiction. Spearheaded by Menorcan entrepreneur Benito Esca, the venue is temporarily opening its doors before undergoing renovation, offering its raw, unfinished interiors to artists who thrive in disorder. The space is not about polished white walls or sterile curation. It is a playground for ephemeral art, designed to be bold, rebellious, and unapologetically real.
Oximoron will feature a rotating cast of independent and urban artists including Pol Marban, Theresia Malaise, José Cruz, Demo Artist, Alicia Gimeno, Pablo Escat, Hombre López, Quitolomalo, David Monrós, Two Many Flowers, and Benjamín Riquelme—names that span genres from illustration and graffiti to sculpture and experimental installations.
By launching the space with Francisco de Pájaro’s Art is Trash, Esca sets the tone for a cultural project that refuses to play by the rules. The message is clear: art should provoke, art should speak, and art should get dirty.
The Power of Trash in the Age of Surveillance
The Art is Trash installation in Menorca fits into a larger trajectory of Francisco de Pájaro’s work, where trash becomes testimony. He uses the everyday leftovers of society to expose the illusions of control, comfort, and convenience that technology and capitalism promise.
His sculptures are not meant to last, but their message is permanent. They challenge the way we engage with public space, the way we consume, and the way we think. His criticism of the tech industry, political corruption, and environmental apathy isn’t hidden in metaphor—it’s printed in bold colors and grotesque smiles on the body of a broken TV screen.
And this time, the trash comes directly from the streets of Menorca. Locally sourced, globally resonant.
Art is Trash: Beyond Galleries, Beyond Borders
While Art is Trash has gained notoriety through exhibitions in respected urban art galleries like Artevistas in Barcelona and Westbank Gallery in London, his soul remains in the streets. What makes this installation at Oximoron Art Hub particularly significant is its return to that street ethos—not confined by market logic or art-world formalities, but present, urgent, and born from the local environment.
Here, the work exists without luxury framing or protective glass. It is vulnerable, accessible, and reactive, just like the problems it critiques.
Conclusion: A Call to Look Closer, React Louder
The Art is Trash exhibit at Oximoron Art Hub isn’t just about trash—it’s about what we value, what we ignore, and what we allow to control our lives. Francisco de Pájaro doesn’t want admiration—he wants reaction. He doesn’t want us to agree—he wants us to question. And above all, he wants us to see that the detritus of modern life is more revealing than we think.
So if you find yourself in Menorca before the end of September, walk into the contradiction of Oximoron, look a trash sculpture in the eyes, and ask yourself what it’s trying to say.
Because chances are, it’s speaking directly to you.
📍 Venue Details:
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Exhibition: Art is Trash at Oximoron Art Hub
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Artist: Francisco de Pájaro (Art is Trash)
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Location: Oximoron Art Hub, Calle José María Cuadrado 37–40, Mahón, Menorca
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Dates: Open through September
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Organizer: Benito Esca
