Cristián Calderón, Iquique.
Carlos Vargas, Alto Hospicio.
Carlos Vargas, Alto Hospicio.
The art in Chile has always been a minor thing, for the interests of the State policies as well as for those who might interfere in this matter: private companies and institutions spreading cultural projects.
Therefore, nowadays the self-management has been the vehicle that moves the visual artists and cultural managers to carry out their projects and to fight off the calamitous centralization of the cultural diffusion policies, especially related to the contemporary art field.
Chile is a large country divided in three big geographical zones: north, centre, and south. My labor as a curator of contemporary artwork exhibitions has been concentrated in the north of the country, mostly in the Tarapacá region. In that place, the visual art scenario, almost through 2000 kilometers, does not have a museum showing this matter, and a documentary center or a university degree that teaches visual arts.
This way, the origin of a production to spread a defined visual art project is based on the great efforts requiring years of study. The local scenarios that address different topics, mainly related to painting, could not get out of their caves to build a sense that creates in its effective social development. I say “social” because there is no doubt that the contemporary art is a social development tool, which allows the understanding of the philosophical reflection. Currently, it is more than necessary within this world that has increasingly media interest. The spreading of the Tarapacá scenario and those from other country zones has been seriously affected by the considerations previously mentioned. Although, it is important to highlight that the same considerations have currently generated a strong art video and experimental film development that tries to seek different public spaces as a way of diffusion. This has attracted not only local artists but also other artists from other places in the country and overseas. They are young artists, who have understood, before 200 years of republican life, that Chile is a large country with a multi cultural existence. In this sense, the north zone has internationalized part of the national contemporary art since it is found in a free-tax zone, generating in the last 30 years a strong commercial interchange with the border countries such as Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina, additionally, Paraguay and Brazil that are commercially related through the product sale routs from Chile.
Chile from its capital of Santiago has invested a lot of money to internationalize the national scenario, however this has been unsuccessful. There will never be a national scene if the null reception and diffusion of the projects executed from north to south are not reverted. The national character is national and this does not only include the big cities.
This way the Chilean scenario, beyond its concepts and schemes, will always be subjected to the policy established in the metropolis, issue that will not recreate a national character but rather than private interests.
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