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Memorial of Resistance hosts exhibition of eight artists on the memory of Latin American dictatorships

by Richard Meckien - published Oct 03, 2017 04:20 PM - - last modified Oct 18, 2017 10:22 AM
Rights: Original version in Portuguese by Vinicius Sayão.

Memorial da Resistência
The Memorial of Resistance in São Paulo will exhibit 'Hiatus: The Memory of Dictatorial Violence in Latin America' from October 21 to March 12, 2018
An exhibition at the Memorial of Resistance in São Paulo will bring together eight artists in a collection that aims at contributing to the reflection on the memory of Latin American dictatorships, especially in Brazil, Argentina and Chile. 'Hiatus: The Memory of Dictatorial Violence in Latin America' will be shown from October 21 to March 12, 2018, and has been organized by IEA's Research Group Human Rights, Democracy, Politics and Memory, in partnership with the Pinacoteca Association of Art and Culture, and the Memorial of Resistance in São Paulo. The Goethe Institute and USP's Dean of Culture and University Extension are supporting the initiative. The opening on the 21st will take place at 11.00 am. Afterwards, at 2.00 pm, there will be the 'Resisting Saturday - The art of memory: thinking of the Latin American dictatorships today.'

The dictatorial period can be perceived as a moment of interruption, a hiatus, which highlights it in relation to the history and continuity of the country, understand the organizers. Thus, the collection is a curation inspired by the idea that one must face this element of exception of history, the moment of dictatorship.

El Rio - Marcelo Brodsky
'El Río de la Plata,' a Marcelo Brodsky's work to remember that "in the brown waters thousands of Argentines were thrown to death" during the dictatorial period

Due to this task of facing the dictatorial "gaps" of Latin America today, the exhibition promotes the meeting of artists who have been dedicated to the theme of the memory of evil in the 20th and 21st centuries: Andreas Knitz, Clara Ianni, Fulvia Molina, Horst Hoheisel, Jaime Lauriano, Leila Danziger, Marcelo Brodsky and Rodrigo Yanes. The curator of the exhibition is Márcio Seligmann-Silva, professor of literary theory at UNICAMP and a member of the IEA research group that is co-organizer of the exhibition.

"This 'hiatus' is a moment of deepening social tensions that have led to the intensification of state violence. Facing these dictatorships in this way is important to keep in mind that the memory of these 'gaps' should serve as a critic of each present: every act of the dictatorship's memory must also be a moment of critical reflection," explains Seligmann-Silva. One of the vectors of the exhibition is the reports of Truth Commissions, important for the work of remembrance.

Memories of dictatorships are perceived in different ways in each country. As Seligmann-Silva exemplifies, Argentina has an intense presence of the marks of the dictatorship in its territory and in its political and historical landscape. Brazil, on the other hand, in general, "resists much more to face the task of elaborating this memory, to seek truth and justice, to establish the marks of the memory of that past."

Photos: Memorial of Resistance in São Paulo / Marcelo Brodsky