With the sponsorship of the Embassy of Chile, the exhibition Las Marionetas (de Fuego) will be on display today and tomorrow at the Galería Casasur in Madrid (in the Centro Comercial, Calle del Tesoro 26).
This exhibition invites a group of Chilean artists to dialogue and think about the Chile they live in today, 50 years after the military coup d’état. Whether they do so within their own territory or from within it, even if they are far away. The exhibition will also feature the work of Fernando de Giles, a Spanish artist and reporter who closely covered the Chilean dictatorship.
The exhibition features the work of artists Beatriz Hagel, Catalina Macan, Manuela Ovalle, Loló Rodríguez, Raúl Salvestrini, Álvaro Silva Wuth, Flavia Totoro, Tomás Valdivieso, Andrea Casanova, Beatriz Hagel, Catalina Macan, Manuela Ovalle, Loló Rodríguez, Raúl Salvestrini, Álvaro Silva Wuth, Flavia Totoro and Tomás Valdivieso.
As part of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the coup d’état committed by the dictator General Augusto Pinochet on 11 September 1973, twelve days later, on 23 September, the first book burning took place. Like all those that took place during the regime, this one was prepared by the dictator’s military junta. Thus began the great assault.
In Las Marionetas (de Fuego) a group of Chilean artists are invited to dialogue and this dialogue brings with it questions: What and where do they live today? What can they say about their society marked by political and social polarisation? Is it a collapsed neoliberal system? Could the privatisation of education, health, transport, and even water be directly responsible for this tremendously classist society? Can they face a participatory constitutional process when they do not have the same opportunities? The exhibition seeks to maintain the memory of what was once called “our awakening”. It sought to make dignity a custom. A dream frozen or stopped in time, due to various circumstances. Whatever these are, they have only one thing in common: as long as they are puppets, they will respond with fire.
On 19 October 2020, the social outburst that marked a before and after in today’s Chile took place. Chile mobilised behind the slogan: It’s not 30 pesos, it’s 30 years! This unleashed a profound questioning in more than 80% of Chilean society. This led to a rethinking of the constitution that governed Chile, which had been drawn up under the dictatorship.
