Device to Root out Evil, Palma de Mallorca

Device to Root out Evil, in Palma

Device to Root out Evil is a surprising contemporary work of art of Palma: a small church set upside down, balanced on its bell tower. The Palma audio-guided tour stops here to evoke this monumental and unusual sculpture, which intrigues the passers-by on a square of the town.

The upside-down church of Dennis Oppenheim

Arriving on a small square of the Santa Catalina quarter, you are necessarily surprised by this mini-church set upside down, balanced on the point of its bell tower, the spire planted towards the ground and the foundations raised towards the sky. This contemporary work of art, entitled Device to Root out Evil, is a creation of the American artist Dennis Oppenheim. Designed originally for other towns, where it aroused controversy, the sculpture finally found its place in Palma. Made of metal structures and panels of translucent red glass, which evoke a country chapel, the work plays with the codes of religious architecture by literally overturning them, in a provocative and poetic approach proper to contemporary art. It invites the spectator to question and to cast a new gaze on the familiar. Become an unusual and photogenic landmark, it contrasts with the old heritage of the town. An artistic curiosity and an intriguing work, Device to Root out Evil is an astonishing stop of the discovery of Palma.

What to see

Here you discover the unusual contemporary work of art of the American artist Dennis Oppenheim: a mini-church set upside down, balanced on its bell tower, made of metal structures and translucent red glass, which plays with the codes of religious architecture by overturning them, on a square of the Santa Catalina quarter. Device to Root out Evil is an artistic curiosity of Palma. It is an astonishing stop, to be explored on foot.

Practical information

Device to Root out Evil is on a square of the Santa Catalina quarter, in Palma, reachable on foot. It is an open-air work, freely visible. You discover it during a walk in the quarter.

What is Device to Root out Evil in Palma?

A contemporary work of art of the American artist Dennis Oppenheim: a mini-church set upside down, balanced on its bell tower, made of metal structures and translucent red glass, which plays with the codes of religious architecture by overturning them; it stands on a square of the Santa Catalina quarter.