The viral statue attributed to Jaume Plensa and located in Barcelona that doesn't actually exist

BarcelonaAn image baptized as The load either The effort, which features a bronze sculpture of a woman carrying all her household chores and three children on her back, has made a fortune on the internet. It appears in dozens of posts everywhere – Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, X and TikTok – and they always attribute it to Jaume Plensa and place it in Barcelona, ​​​​at the intersection of Princesa Street and Via Laietana. The problem is that the image is fake. Not only is the sculpture not by Jaume Plensa and not located in Barcelona, ​​​​but it does not exist.

For Barcelona residents, it is obvious that this tree-lined street does not fit the location. For art lovers, it is obvious that this realistic sculpture does not fit with Jaume Plensa's work either. But nevertheless, it has gone viral and has millions of views, comments and likesEven a simple Google search turns up at least a dozen false references. The sculptor's studio is puzzling over the issue. "We don't know where it came from. We saw it first on Instagram and responded to that account to clarify, then it went to Facebook and it's been unstoppable," they explain to ARA. "What can be done?"

Can virality be stopped? Can false information be corrected? "It can't be," responds ARA technology expert Albert Cuesta. "But it's not a problem with AI, but with social media. Technically, image generators from reputable companies (Adobe, Google) add a 'This is AI' label to the image metadata, but it's the publishing platform that decides." What Plensa's studio has done is report the first publication and debunk it on social media.

Doing a reconstruction to find out where the image comes from, the first located post appeared five days ago on Instagram and has 37,000 likes. It quickly spread to other accounts and media. Countless. A day ago, the platform Cultura Inquieta reposted it, and it already has 140,000 views on Instagram and 622,000 likes. likes to X. In another art popularization account, Museumsnews, the image has 187,000 views on TikTok. And so on infinitely.

The online debate has focused on the meaning of the work and the weight of patriarchy, but the veracity of the image, its attribution, and its location have all been ignored. Some comments warn that it's a fake image created by AI, but many followers don't seem to care. A Google Images search reveals other similar photographs, also created by AI, but which have had less success. The fact that it was attributed to a renowned sculptor and located in Barcelona has given the piece credibility and value.

The last straw was that an internet user asked X's AI, @grok, to confirm the location. And the AI insisted that it was "on Princesa Street, near the Picasso Museum." When we asked it again from the ARA, it corrected itself and admitted the error. "Sorry, you're right. After checking reliable sources, such as the Barcelona City Council's official catalog of public art and the list of works by Jaume Plensa, there is no sculpture named The effort either The load in that location. It looks like an AI-generated image with viral misinformation. Thanks for pointing it out!

If anyone wants to see Jaume Plensa's public sculptures in the city, there are several real options: Carmela, in front of the Palau de la Música; the sculptural ensemble of the chest and the cannonballs on the Paseo del Born;Breakwater, in Via Júlia; Art, in the courtyard of the Vila Casas Foundation in Poblenou, and the doors of the Liceu.

These days, another lie is circulating on the internet, in this case caused by @grok, who incorrectly attributed a historic photograph of Málaga to Alabama. The avalanche of tweets from the far right was unstoppable. The thread debunking the AI is unmissable. But the key to the case is the devastating difference between the few views the tweet with real information received compared to the thousands the initial false information received.