In March 2015, Oscar Santillan hiked to the top of England’s highest mountain, Scafell Pike, and removed its tip. The tip was the focal point of the installation The Intruder (2015) that was on display in Santillan’s first U.K. solo exhibition at the Copperfield Gallery, London1. It is a tiny rock. A one-inch stone, in fact. Yet in the British popular imagination it has taken on immense proportions after public outrage turned into media frenzy (or the other way around, of course).
Tabloids, broadsheets and, yes, even the BBC endlessly recycled accusations of vandalism and thievery whilst avoiding–or unwittingly circling around–questions concerning national pride and regional identity, natural conservation and cultural geography, as well as any critical engagement with the work itself.