Iván Navarro and his Proposal for a Monument for Víctor Jara
By: Señales Rojas 2010 – Art against the proliferation of barbarism, an IILA – Italo-Latin American Institute- project in collaboration with Fondazione Volume!
On the white walls of a small room a video made by the artist Ivan Navarro projects an image of two people with masks on their faces. They are singing the last song written by Victor Jara (1932 - 1973), a Chilean songwriter, musician, and threater director. The work, curated by Antonio Arévalo, function as its title suggest, as "The Missing Monument for Washington, DC, or a Proposal for Monument forVictor Jara".
The history of this period of repression in the called “south cone” of Latin America, is connected to Washington. The infamous Condor Operation, that involved terrible methods of repression from the military dictatorships in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile in order to defy the left opposition, was conceived with the knowledge of the United States while Henry Kissinger was Secretary of State.
An advocate of president Salvador Allende, Jara was captured in 1973 by the military commanded by General Pinochet –whose lesa humanity crimes were confronted during their last days in his life - and transported to the Santiago de Chile stadium, where he was killed several weeks later, after being tortured and having his wrists broken. During his imprisonment in the stadium that now bears his name, he did not have his guitar, only a pen which he used to write poems and songs. The last one, dated September 23rd, was entlitled “Estadio Chile”. Victor was never able to sing it.
A secret testament, it was a conscious reflection on his imminent death and the fear that accompanied him in his final days. It is a story that is part of the blood that poured from the bodies: “To sing, what a bad taste when I must sing of horrors. Horros like the one I live, like the one that’s killing me, horrors. Seeing myself through so many infinite moments in which the silence and the scream are the end of this song”.
Iván Navarro (Chile, 1972) lives and works in New York. Is one of the most interesting chilean artist in the international scene. Recently the representative of Chile during the last edition of the Venezia Biennal. His most recent exhibitions have been presented at The Whitney Museum, New York; MOCA, Miami; Witte de With, Rotterdam; Kasmin Gallery, New York, Baro Galeria, Sao Paulo, Distrito4, Madrid; Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris; Art Rock Rockefeller plaza, New York; Prague Biennale 2, Praga.
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