From the 1880s to the 1920s, public performances of extreme fasting by caged hunger artists became a very popular source of entertainment. Agustà Nieto- Galan presents the history of this phenomenon as both urban spectacle and subject of scientific study and experiment.
Nieto-Galan explores the links between chemistry and industrial and military projects, national rivalries and international endeavours in twentieth-century Spain. He unveils the chemists' positions of power and their engagement in fierce ideological battles, drawing out elements of co-production between science and politics.