This exhibition by Chilean artist Claudia del Fierro, curated by Santiago Rueda, transports us to Neltume, a small town in the commune of Panguipulli, where, in the late 1960s, dozens of left-wing militants settled to work at the Panguipulli Timber Complex, on land that the government had expropriated and transferred to the workers so they could build a large collective enterprise meant to become the most important and productive of its kind in southern Chile.
This exhibition by Chilean artist Claudia del Fierro, curated by Santiago Rueda, transports us to Neltume, a small town in the commune of Panguipulli, where, in the late 1960s, dozens of left-wing militants settled to work at the Panguipulli Timber Complex, on land that the government had expropriated and transferred to the workers so they could build a large collective enterprise meant to become the most important and productive of its kind in southern Chile.
After the coup d'état, the workers clashed with the carabineros and the military, resisting for months in the mountains in hopes of reclaiming their land, but the Timber Complex was shut down, the land was returned to its previous owners, and many protesters were imprisoned, exiled, or killed. Today what remains are traces and materials, excavations in the forest, and replicas in a community museum.
The Complex builds a new version of history that leads us to question the dream of pan-American revolution, the socialist utopia in Chile, the dead-end road of insurgent struggle, and the fear we still live with, in our countries, of commemorating our victims. The events recovered in Claudia del Fierro's work can be seen as the epilogue to the dream of continental liberation, inviting reflection on a part of the history of the countries of Central and South America.
The exhibition, which includes installation along with archival documentation and videos, opens on February 17 at 6:00 pm and will be open to the public until March 3.