This year we are commemorating 11 September with two art installations in the archaeological complex, reinterpreting two defeats that are in dialogue with each other across the ages and which, at the same time, represent two struggles: the defeat of democracy in Chile through the coup d’état of 11 September 1973 and the last defence of Barcelona on 11 September 1714.
The coup put an end to the democracy protected by the Chilean Constitution of 1925 and the “Chilean road to socialism”. It led to persecution, state violence and the reversal of the democratic and republican values that until then had sustained the coexistence of Chileans and their relationship with justice, the police, the armed forces, universities, municipalities and the government.
The installation Dos minutos y medio para el mediodía del 11 de septiembre de 1973 (Two and a half Minutes to Noon on 11 September, 1973) by the artist Fernando Prats, commemorates the 50th anniversary of those events by evoking the visual and sound elements that encapsulate the tragedy: the bombing of the La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago de Chile and its radio broadcast. The burning la Moneda and the grey smoke that surrounded the palace after the bombing are the elements that the artist takes as a metaphor in his installation, which consists of nine smoked paintings located in the site and the reproduction of the speech from Radio Balmaceda by the journalist Ignacio González Camus, who recounts the unfolding of the coup. In addition, on the balcony, the visitor can see historical photographs of the key moments of the attack, a series of drawings and a series of files that document the Chilean political context and the terrible consequences of the coup d’état.
Installation curated by Ricardo Brodsky.
Listen here to journalist Ignacio González Camus’ broadcast on the assault on the Mint (for copyright reasons, only audio playback is allowed):
From 12 to 14 September, elaborates this historical fact through the cinema cycle about the Chile’s 11 September.
This activity is part of the activities of the Catalonia’s Diada.
