From a general point of view, the main objective of this ethnographic exhibition is that it contribute to the construction of a collective historical memory, at the same time that it becomes a memory tool built from different memories. This objective is relevant given that the information and analysis of the traditional and official media do not incorporate these stories and speeches.
Thus we also observe in the context of the protest a specific territorial mobility with the people who circulate through the designated territory and the materiality that they leave / pick up / withdraw in those places. Thus, for example, in streets such as Carabineros de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna, Alameda, Ramón Corvalán Melgarejo and Providencia, to name a few, post-protest / mobilization a variety of evidence could be found, such as lemons, medical utensils, with tear gas canisters and filters. for gases, as well as graffiti and messages on the walls. The day after the mobilization in the morning (7:00 a.m.), groups of workers were observed “cleaning” that space.
I have the need to leave a record of what happened in the streets, because if you do not register materially you could lose and forget what was happening, in fact, there are dynamics of repression and struggle that continue to occur, they are not objects / vestiges / images / stories of the past, are present and continue in force, in the here and now.
The project name Cabezas & Artefactos –beyond the pun with my paternal surname– refers to the fact that the most serious injuries suffered by the protesters were precisely to the heads and eyes; injuries that caused death or irreparable damage.
The concept of artifacts refers to the Parriano gesture of resignifying objects: artifacts of control / repression, resistance (defense), rebellion (attack), artifacts of struggle. It seeks to give value and resignify those objects and vestiges in a context of protest and mobilization in their temporalities –before, during and after–. Objects and artifacts alone may not say much, but if we grant meaning in contexts and the dynamics of the revolt / social state that began on October 18, 2019, they give us a story in permanent construction.