NYU's dime--which is to say my parents dime, translated through innumerable internal NYU accounts--took a bunch of us to one of Spain's least famed autonomías: Extremadura. Though its marginal status and name are somewhat justified (the land to interesting stuff ratio does not favor interesting stuff), the wilderness held certain treasures. Notable features included, Mérida, a fairly well preserved Roman city, and Cáceres, a well preserved contemporary city. Further, there were a range of reconquista era castles and lush, agricultural vallies to be seen. Most interesting among the sites was a museum holding a collection of artist Wolf Vostell, a German who lived in Spain and made gooey mashups of televisions, cars, and assorted machine parts. He depicts these technologies grappling with nature, and the setting itself extends this theme, placing them in a converted outpost
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