We all have that friend we love to invite to our birthdays because he always come with an shocking present, a giant Scalextric, a human skull, or a disturbingly realistic dildo. For David Bowie, that friend is artist Tony Oursler.
Juan Jose Santos Mateo
Juanjo Santos is a spanish hypertraveller art critic specializing in Latin American art and a friend of Jerry Saltz (on Facebook). He is also a curator and has a website, www.juanjosantos.com.
Posted inArt
The Impossibility of Utopia
SANTIAGO, Chile — In Chile, things are happening. On the one hand, there’s a group of artists (born in the late seventies and early eighties) travelling outside the country but, for the first time, regulary returning and mounting exhibitions inside the borders. On the other hand, the younger artists, born in the mid and late eighties, are developing a consistent and brave concept of work, blowing fresh air into this remote art world. Many of them are creating very political art, fed more by the current government of President Sebastián Piñera than by the past repressive military government, whose shadow is still visible.
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For Those Without History, a Memorial Museum in Chile
SANTIAGO, Chile — Walk down a flight of stairs and open the door. The door closes behind you and you find yourself in a dark room. You disappear; you can’t leave the space and don’t have a point of reference. A few minutes later, 500 silhouettes of the heads of 500 different people throw a diffuse white light — you find yourself gathered with people, some dead, some disappeared, and some others still alive. You are one of the victims of Chile’s dictatorial period. Finally the door opens and you go outside, warmed again by the natural light of the sun. You have just visited the installation “Geometria de la Conciencia” (“Geometry of the Conscience”) by Alfredo Jaar. You are in the Museum of Memory and Human Rights of Santiago, Chile.
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Inflatable Dictators, Cardboard Robots, and Other Interventions in the Chilean Street
SANTIAGO, Chile — The name of the first urban intervention festival in Santiago de Chile, “Hecho en Casa” (“Homemade”), simply comes from the mission of the activities: the aspiration to create a festival for people in downtown Santiago, to make them feel that the streets are their home.
