València, (EFE).- The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, the first transsexual executed in the 15th century, Margarida Borràs, and an Albert Einstein who works at McDonalds due to job insecurity are some of the 760 ninots that populate the Museum of Ciencias de València in the annual sample, which this year opts for a more social than political approach.
The Ninot Exhibition, which can be visited from this Friday until March 15, includes 380 children’s figures and 380 large figures from all sections, and while some of the commissions have chosen to introduce innovative elements, such as figures that rotate on its axis or that include light, others have had to settle for sending a protest poster to the show to denounce that their fallas artist has left them “muddy”.
Ukraine at the Baby Exhibition
The war in Ukraine is the focus this year of the concern of the fallas commissions, several of which have represented Russian President Vladimir Putin, two of them with the motto “fill de Putin” (Putin’s son), in one case with the leader North Korean Kim Jong-un and in the other killing a duck.
US President Joe Biden also appears in a few ninots, either riding a missile or looking for “an atomic relationship” on a matchmaking show like First Dates.
At the national level, Pedro Sánchez dances flamenco on the “tablao La Moncloa” while they shout “handsome”, and his former Minister of Culture, the writer and journalist Máximo Huerta, has converted and works at a tourist information point.
faults and monarchy
This year’s fallas have not abandoned the tradition of representing the monarchy, especially King Emeritus Juan Carlos I, who sings the ranchera ‘El rey’ in a ninot dressed as a mariachi, but also his son, Felipe VI, that a fault from Xàtiva has represented by upright the painting of Felipe V that the Valencian town exhibits upside down in response to the city’s fire in 1707.
In royal code, another figure shows the reunion of Queen Elizabeth of England and Princess Diana, Lady Di, to whom the monarch asks if “there was light at the end of the tunnel” (in which she died).
Political leaders of the city, such as the mayor, Joan Ribó, or councilors Carlos Galiana, Pere Fuset or Giuseppe Grezzi, also appear in the form of dolls.
The sports world
The owner of Mercadona, Juan Roig, is another of the well-known faces of the exhibition, and he appears forcibly giving a drink to a marathon runner organized by his Trinidad Alfonso Foundation to improve his mark and break a record in the competition .
On the other hand, Oliver and Benji trampling on the Valencia Club de Fútbol shield or the owner of the team, Peter Lim, stabbing the club’s mascot bat reveal the discontent of the Valencian supporters with the management of Meriton.
Pending issues
This year’s ninots reflect concern for social issues such as the climate emergency, which is reflected in an experimental ninot that represents global warming with a block of wood; the possibilities that the metaverse opens up, with an “online” couple in which “nothing is what it seems”; or CBD, who smokes a ninot from Alice in Wonderland.
Abuses within the Church have also reached the exhibition, in which a ninot, with the motto “unfinished business”, represents a religious looking at crying children.
Likewise, the economic situation, the effects of the pandemic and inflation are reflected in figures such as that of arms hoarding toilet paper for whatever may come, or a man sitting barefoot, begging on the street.
A trans and a Venuseta
Strong women, such as a “lluitadora” (fighter) in armor or the first trans woman executed in Valencia -in the 15th century, Margarida Borràs-, show this year that the Fallas have a gender perspective.
“La Venuseta, la Venus sin teta” is the solidarity monument of the García Lorca-Oltá falla, dedicated to women who have suffered from breast cancer, and represents the classic Venus de Milo without a breast.
The Palleter-Erudito Orellana commission has even dared with an augmented reality monument, whose center is a QR code that, when scanned, incorporates a representation of the “drag” artist Liz Dust into the ninot.
In addition, the Lepanto-Guillem de Castro commission, whose central female figure representing a nude woman was vandalized last year, has once again opted for the artist Anna Ruiz Sospedra, who will plant a male bust this year.
The Bakalao Route and the ‘Satisfaller’
The exposed ninots also deal with typically Valencian themes this year, such as the “bakalao route”, represented by a man in front of an indicator that shows the different discos, or several figures of people eating sandwiches with references to the so-called “culture of l’ have lunch” (of lunch).
Another fallero artist has transformed the Satisfyer into a “Satisfaller” that provides fallas pleasure, and there is no shortage of representations of the presenter Joan Monleón and his “Russian paella”.
In the children’s ninots section, as every year, the sweetest figures predominate, with representations of characters from movies such as Star Wars, Harry Potter or Coco, and even with figures by artists such as Pablo Picasso or Frida Kahlo, coincidentally located next to each other. the other.
In the special section of large fallas, most of the commissions have opted for classical-style ninots, such as the two falleras from L’Antiga de Campanar or the comb workshop of Almirante Cadarso-Conde Altea, although Exposición-Micer Mascó has opted for something more innovative, with a fantastically styled couple who kiss each other holding an illuminated heart.
Visitors will be able to vote until March 15 for their favorite figure to be saved from the flames, entering their code in one of the three voting machines, a process in which last year 46,700 people participated in terms of large failures and 42,600 in children’s
