ON VIEW NOW
The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics proudly presents “CHILE: 40 Years of Struggle and Resistance.” Organized by Londres 38 – A Space of Memories—a former Chilean torture and detention center under the Pinochet regime—and the Instantaneous Silkscreen Collective, the posters featured in this exhibition were collectively designed in 2013 to mark the 40th Anniversary of the military coup that overthrew Salvador Allende’s Popular Unity government in September 1973. The posters are the result of more than three months of work that included participatory workshops as well as training in agitprop and silkscreening techniques.
Drawing from the practice of the Ramona Parra Brigade—an artistic collective linked to the Chilean Communist Party whose street murals achieved prominence during Allende’s Popular Unity government (1970-1973) and later in opposition to the Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990)—the posters were wheat pasted in agitprop style throughout the streets of Santiago. For the 40th Anniversary of Chile’s 9/11, participating organizations responded to a core set of questions, which were reflected in each of the poster designs:
What has happened in Chile over the past 40 years? What social processes have developed? How have the country and society changed? What models are there for the kind of society and country people want to live in? How are the legacies of the military coup and the dictatorship manifested today?
The posters are currently on exhibit at Londres 38, and perform as artifacts engaging with past and present political struggles regarding the legacies of the military coup in Chile, along with ongoing movements for human rights, economic justice, and a new Constitution.
The exhibition of the posters at the Hemispheric Institute invites viewers to continue and expand upon these reflections. To explore the roles that site and memory play across geographical contexts, the Hemispheric Institute exhibits the posters in the same manner as they are installed at Londres 38. As part of the exhibition, the Hemispheric Institute will initiate a street performance on September 11, 2015 by inviting local organizations, which include the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD!), Clemente Soto Vélez Center, and Fourth Arts Block (FABnyc), to display re-printed versions of the posters across New York City streets. Both the exhibition and the performance intend to further complicate the connective histories of what gets remembered where on September 11.