Camila Caneque

Camila Cañeque (June 15, 1984 – February 14, 2024) was a philosopher, conceptual and performance artist from Barcelona. Her work critiqued modernity and existential fatigue. Her work explored the concept of unproductivity, inefficiency and the unfinished in a chaotic world.

Background Cañeque was born in Barcelona to parents Montse González Xicota and Ramón Cañeque.

Cañeque's early work involved inserting herself passively into spaces in character, investigating inaction. Her work has been described as sarcastic, and often with a dark sense of humor, exploring themes such as inaction and rebellion of a consumerist society.

In 2013, she gained attention for a surprise performance piece at Madrid's Contemporary art fair where she appeared lying on the ground in a flamenco dress surrounded by flowers and verses by Lorca. Her motionless performance, performance Dead end at the fair interrupted proceedings and sought to symbolize the "death of Spain". The fair censored her performance. Prior to exhibiting performance Dead end, Cañeque toured the United States dressed as a flamenco dancer for Souvenir, a critique on tourism.

Cañeque would go on to exhibit her work internationally in New York, Brazil and across Europe.

In 2019, she received a residency to develop new performance artworks at Mana Contemporary, for their Mana Contemporary x Secret Project Robot residency program. The book would be published posthumously.

Honours In March 2024, Spanish artist Marc Montijano distributed poems by Lorca in a tribute to Cañeque at Madrid's ARCO art fair, similarly without permission from the fair's organizers.

In November 2024, she was posthumously awarded the Zenda Ópera Prima 2023-2024 Award for La última frase.