Hi All
Here are the notes for this week
Here are the different installations by CADA
Here is the page on Zurita’s Purgatorio by Memoria Chilena (I think UBC Library has a copy in translation)
For the blog this week: In what way do both CADA’s work and the work of the Arpilleristas break down traditional boundaries for what is considered “art”? In what way is this a reflection of the larger political situation in Chile in the seventies and eighties?
For next week we are going to talk about music in Chile during this time. Please read the following article
I think that both CADA’s work and the Arpilleristas break down the traditional boundaries of ‘art’ because they were done and spearheaded in Zurita’s case, by people who would have otherwise not been involved in the ‘arts’ in the first place. The Arpilleristas created the Arpilleras were a response to the events in their lives, and Zurita began writing poetry after he was held and arrested. They all used art to deal with their trauma, but were ‘regular’ people at first..
I think that because CADA’s work and the Arpilleras aimed to relate to people’s everyday life before and after the military coup, yet disrupt it at the same time. These works reminded people that the routines they were living were covering the truth about the actions committed by the government.The Arpilleras used the bright colours and depicted their streets and homes, but often added in their disappeared or messaged relating to it. CADA attempted to disrupt public life and unmask the fakeness the government was attempting to uphold in Chile at the time of the dictatorship.
As I do believe that both CADA and the Arpilleristas artwork was innovational and part of the more secretive revolutionary/rebellious movements in Chile, the work did not break traditional boundaries of Art. This movement of public displays of Art in other forms was something that had occurred for a while in other places of the world (Rivera, Social Realism, or even Warhol). Perhaps one can argue that it broke the boundaries in Chile and that these groups found a way to rebel the regime and disrupt everyday life while appealing to the majority’s sentiment and creating beauty in horror. It demonstrated the truth about Chile, and worked on the basis of humanized feelings with political intentions as secondary. These groups were political in some way, yes, but the artwork was made out of human loss, fear, confusion, love, and frustration in response to the disappearances, oppression, torturing, and other actions brought on by Pinochet’s regime. But the beauty of the art work was that it was able to hold up through time and hold up against the regime since it was cleverly abstract and still a strong depiction of No Mas feelings.
Both CADA and the work of the Arpillerista’s diverted the path of traditional artistic movements in their own ways. CADA, especially, with its conceptual installations, multi-media creations and performance art were exceedingly post-modernist and obscure, something unseen in Chile prior to this time. The Arpillerista’s not only created a unique art form, specific to their shared experience of trauma and loss under the regime, but further used unconventional materials the make them, such as scraps around their homes, and fabric from their own clothes.
Although the subject matter of each respective movement is clearly reflective of the political situation in Chile at the time, the aforementioned ways that the art of each movement was created and distributed shows how innovative and creative the people of Chile needed to be to take a stand against the regime. With government censorship and media control, and a harsh military regime (especially in the 70’s), any form of art created which undermined Pinochet’s authority was quickly extinguished. Therefore, in the case of CADA, using new forms of artistic expression shows the lengths that were needed to bypass government censorship. The creation of Arpillera’s by women whose voices, at the time, weren’t taken into consideration by those in power, can also be seen as a creating a loophole through art – although Arpillera’s were banned in Chile, the artists themselves rarely came under attack by the government in the same way as men were.
Both CADA and the arpilleristas created a different kind of art because they did not paint, or simply write poems in the traditional form. The arpilleristas’ pictures were made with fabric and different materials, while CADA threw pamphlets and wrote things in the sky. Furthermore, these art pieces were not just images, they had a political message in protests of what was going on in Chile. On the one hand, the arpilleristas were telling their stories, they were trying to convey how they felt regarding their children’s and husband’s disappearances. They showed the pain of what they were going through. CADA, on the other hand, protested against what was going on, and they even helped those who needed it. They were all bringing awareness, while fighting an oppressive government in their own way.
When thinking about it, I’d say that Arpilleras and CADA’s work are both very topical and important forms of art, that also breaks away from the classical definition of the art, especially for that time period. They were done by people who weren’t in it for the art as art, they wanted to make an impact, a change, or, in the case of Arpilleristas, wanted to find an outlet for their sorrow and frustration in the time of a major crisis. Arpilleras is a very unique form of art, that tells real stories and real history of that time. The way it captures people’s attention with it bright colours in a juxtaposition with the dark stories that are actually go on in those works. It is a genius way to bring attention to the art itself and to what it tells. It was the time for clever, subtle yet robust change, a movement that will unite people and do so in a non-direct violent way. I feel like CADA’s installation were really good for that, making people think about what needs to be done. They brought awareness to the masses, positioning the art to the forefront of the political movement.
Both CADA and the Arpilleristas demonstrated a need for emotional, personal, and political expression while trying to work around the fear and oppression that Pinochet’s regime style government imposed on the people of Chile. Although unusual when compared to a traditional definition of “art”, both groups showed how tradition can transform and grow into something new. The Arpilleristas used traditional folk art and turned it into a way of dealing with their grief, while sharing their coded stories with the outside world. CADA used large scale and dramatic displays to disrupt the measured and closely monitored day to day life in Chile. While neither of these art forms were something one could expect to experience at a trip to the Louvre, it doesn’t minimize their social impact, which is exactly what art is supposed to do.
These different groups of artists speak volumes about the political system in Chile during the 70’s and 80’s. Both are an almost muffled, clandestine type of protest, illustrating that no matter the pain, the fear or the death count, people will still find a way to express themselves and the hardships they are experiencing. I think it also shows the ingenuity of people willing to push against harsh boundaries and restrictions imposed upon them by a dominating government like Pinochet’s.
I believe that work done by both the CADA group as well as the Arpilleristas, opposed traditional art practices in Chile due to their responsive nature to the ongoing political regimes at the time. Due to the fearful nature of those affected by the ongoing tortures, disappearances and violence, women at the time had to find alternative routes in expressing their feelings and distraught to those experiencing the same emotions as them. By creating non-traditional art on pieces of cloth, they created this new form of artwork by fusing together their emotion, experience and desire to raise awareness. These pieces of artwork not only show the struggles that Chilean’s had to endure during the time but as well the hunger, sorrow, death, etc., that was also the result of the political regime. Likewise, the rebellious nature of the instillations that the CADA group produced, also contradicted the dictatorship/military order at the time. Because of the circumstances at the time, Chilean artists had to become more innovative and expressive in the ways they displayed their artwork. Not only did they create works that represented the emotions and feelings of those being repressed but as well they showcased a resisting power of the people that needed to be show to other Chilean’s and the world.
I feel that CADA’s work along with the Arpilleristas made art a form of demonstrating discontent with the current situation and asking for change. Before these art, especially in Chile, art had never been so actively used as a form of protest. But with the rule of Pinochet, the dictator banned many of traditional forms of protest. This ban made the Chilean population take action by other means, being as a form of art. The woman making Arpilleras and the NO+ campaign are key examples of people trying to look for other methods of demonstrating their discontent. All of this demonstrates how the political situation Chile was going through the seventies and eighties was based on limited communication. Pinochet’s rule was heavily relied on scaring and shutting down any discontent that the civilians could possible bring forward. So art took a really strong form of communication since limiting and preventing the distribution of it is nearly impossible.
Both the art works of the Arpilleristas and CADA redefined ‘art making’ and the purpose of art during the military dictatorship in Chile. The Arpilleras not only allowed these women, and remaining family members, to process their losses and voice their grievances, but it became a new kind of rebellion and dissent against the oppression that they had all been subjected to. This new definition of art allowed their stories to be voiced, heard and carried out into the Western world. CADA’s art installations also became a very prominent form of rebellion against the dictatorship. It challenged the government and also challenged those who had succumbed to life under the regime.
For me, Arpilleras and CADA’s work are a way for the people to express themselves according to the situation they are living. It became a way to express their feeling and help them get throught tought times by using this type of art. Just by looking at their work you can start to understand how hard their lifes were and how much suffering that they had to endure. It also worked as a way to protest against the goverment to try to bring change to the country. CADA also helped those who needed it and at the same time it showed how important it was a change in the goverment. Using art as a way to show other people how their lifes were helped to make people all around the world aware of what was happening and how much some people needed help.
CADA and the Arpilleras break traditional forms of art by, instead of being accomplished or professional artists that spent years refining their craft, the latter were common women who probably had no formal education or had ever picked up the arts for leisure rather than necessity. The Arpilleras were citizens conveying sorrow and distress into their art, telling their real stories and the stories of their neighbors into cloth. They were cries for help and cries of indignation and grief. CADA, on the other hand, dealt with a lot of experimental art forms to try to convey abstract but direct messages of opposition in attempt to rally the people and the international community against Pinochet’s regime. These new forms developed by both groups are a clear demonstration of art needing to subvert the censorship and tyranny of the regime in order to thrive and protest.
CADA and Arpilleras work are both break down form the traditional ‘format’ of art. They were utilizing even the format itself to express their ideologies. Before them, the art was locked in canvas and other 2D formats, but through their effort, art was out to the road, and it was in everyday life. And this helped in political protest either. Rather than expressing art in classic form, CADA’s art work influenced everyday life of people which brought protest against government to reality and helped people feel it more severely. Under regime, those art works have done quite big effort to stand against government, and refusal for the regime.
CADA and the arpilleras break down the traditional concept of art because these two methods were used as a form of resistance. These art works, especially the arpilleras, come out as desperate, underfunded and impoverished given that they had to sometimes even tear their own clothes to complete their work. These two groups of course reflect the realities in Chile since they were almost always about the impunity of the regime and their loss and sadness as a result of state oppression. The arpilleras’ art was about their missing family members whilst CADA encouraged passive resistance to the regime.
Both the CADA and the Arpillerista’s work was not only notable works of art, but important displays of protest that helped shape Chilean history. In a time of violent oppression and heavy censorship under the Pinoche regime the people of Chile developed art forms which served as indirect protests toward the dictatorship. The Arpillerista’s work consisted of pieces of cloth sewn into a quilt like object, showing pictures which discuss the poor political state of chile at the time. The CADA’s art however took the form of social interactions such as dumping flyers or handing out milk. In a time when criticisms toward the government was responded with violence, it was a very strong reflection of the community’s feelings toward the current political state and their distaste for the actions of the current regime.
I believe that both the Arpilleras and CADA’s projects have important implications to the relationship between art and politics, though in very different ways.
The Arpilleristas were women speaking out, through their creations, about their personal experiences under the Pinochet regime. Their message was highly political and non-political simultaneously. It was highly political in the way that it addressed the abuses of power of the state in a plain, blatant way, yet was apolitical in the sense that they did not advocate for any particular political group, and framed their grievances in non-political, emotive language/art.
On the other hand, CADA was certainly a politically-oriented group. Though they could not express their views openly (in order to navigate a complex censorship regime), they made art a decidedly political act. This is especially evident in their reenactment of the bombing of the Presidential Palace (replacing bombs with pamphlets). As such, CADA pushed art into the political realm in ways that would increasingly become part of social movements’ repertoires everywhere.
I think that the work of the CADA and Arpilleras break down traditional boundaries of what is considered art as it was a way for people to express themselves. This reflects the larger political situation in Chile as people would express their thoughts, feelings and sufferings during this time. The artwork wasn’t made by professional artists, it was instead made by common women who probably had never engaged in art before. By looking at these pieces of artwork you can understand what people lives were like which made other people around the world aware of what was happening. Furthermore this artwork was used as a means of protest against the government. The work of CADA and Arpilleras redefined art as it allowed women to redefine their stories which was heard and carried through the world.
The definition of art is using a medium of expression through creativity and being imaginative with it, the emotional power that the Arpillera movement served created a new concept of art that held so much emotion and empowered the women who created them for their lost loved ones. In a way it was re defining art making because it was a new medium that brought so many Chilean women together to serve a greater purpose. The idea that these cloth works were created with clothing from their lost loved ones makes it all the more meaningful. It was interesting to see all the bright colors used for such a somber subject. I feel like the colors were uses as a note of positivity and gave hope and “life” to the pieces well paying tribute to the fact that they have to push through the pain and they still have life left in them. The CADA on the other hand used codes and hidden messages to get across their art. So in a way the two art forms are similar because they got their messages during a time of dictatorship and punishment. Even though one showed more resistance to the government then the other, both art forms helped resist the government and their activities by rebelling through art.
The Chilean Arpilleras movement seems to be a particularly strong expression of protest against the Pinochet dictatorship mainly because of the people it is made up of, and the obvious resilience they demonstrate in the face of injustice and Human Rights abuses. This movement differs from traditional art because the main message seems not to be what is represented in the artwork, but simply that the artwork is present: It is proof of the constant resistance to the dictatorship. Some of the women in the article have been creating Arpilleras for over ten years, even after the government law prohibiting this form of art. The fact that they keep being made shows the determination to fight the military junta and learn the whereabouts of their disappeared family members.
CADA differs from the Arpillera movement because it is expressed publicly, in a manner that will catch the attention and provoke the emotions of large numbers of people; it is effective because it is a contradiction of the policies of the dictatorship; while Pinochet tries to keep the actions of his government a secret and exclude as much of the population as he possibly can from positions of power, CADA, with initiatives such as ‘no mas’, or dropping hundreds of thousands of pamphlets from planes, creates a sense of community and implication, delivering a message of inclusion and of the importance of individual thought in defeating the dictatorship.
I think that CADA and the Arpilleras break down what we would consider the traditional boundaries of art because they were forced to work within the restrictions set by a dictatorship. While art is of course a form of expression, these artists had to be very careful with what they expressed, and how they expressed it. We see a migration towards the strange, in an attempt to make a statement without drawing the ire of the government. In the case of CADA, doing something strange, like the milk exhibit, would catch and draw attention, but stay within the censorship limits. It was a balance between what they wanted to say and what they could say. The Arpilleras seem to me to represent a more personal expression. Each piece of artwork tells of ones (or a groups collective) trauma. However, for the pieces created in Chile, nothing is so explicit as to cause censorship. A cathartic release, and a exposee, but a stealthy one.
I believe that both the CADA work and the work of the Arpilleras break down the traditional boundaries of what is considered art. Both the CADA work and the work of the Arpilleras don’t use a traditional common art form such as paintings. The CADAGroup used public “art actions” in a way to create semantic ruptures in the artificial rhythms of daily life under the regime and used items such as pamphlets.The Arpilleras are applique compositions when the pieces of cloths are made and formed. Both of these are a reflection of the larger political situation in Chile in the seventies and eighties. However, I believe that The Arpilleras reflect more the personal experiences of people living in Chile and their political situation while the CADA represent people opinion more as a whole of people view of the political situation.
I think that the CADA?s and Arpilleristas? work broke the boundaries of what is traditionally considered ?art? in that they created a new purpose for art that was more than simply expressing oneself and creating aesthetic beauty. Their form of art was used political resistance in a regime that was repressive and violent. Under Salvador Allende?s regime the arts were supported by government, however following the coup many artists and writers fled into exile. Change in the reception of art from recreational to political is highly due to the political situation in Chile during the seventies and eighties. The women who were making the Arpilleras were not ?artists? by the traditional sense, however due to the violence and repressive nature of Pinochet?s regime, art became a way for these women to share the stories of their missing loved ones and resist the regime. The work of CADA is also similar in nature in that the main purpose of the art was to address problems under the regime and even encourage protests and resistance movements against Pinochet?s dictatorship. This reflects the political situation in Chile during the 70s and 80s because the artistic movements are in direct response to the mass deaths, disappearances, institutionalization, and overall multifaceted repression that the regime was responsible for. Although art is not necessarily innately political, it can be utilized to spread messages of political unrest and criticisms of the regime. As well, art is not limited to those who are educated or upper class, both the consumers and producers of art can be anyone. This accessibility made art a very powerful political tool for the masses under Pinochet?s regime.
The art created by both CADA and the Arpilleristas is unique from other form of art as the significance behind them is not necessarily the art itself but the fact that they persevered to create these controversial pieces despite the factors which were trying to hold them back from doing that. The art was created by the circumstances of their time period and location, provoking thought and entertaining an expression of opinion that was persecuted in Chile at time. CADA created art in action, these art actions grabbed attention and stood up to the threat of the regime. Similarly, the Arpilleristas grabbed attention but not in public presence. Their secrecy and defiance was right under the nose of the country and avoided attention while managing to be desired and transported to places around the world. Both CADA and the Arpilleristas expressed the essence of the political situation in Chile: a nation torn up between wanting to proclaim their beliefs and opinions loud for all to hear while being oppressed into silence and having to save their true opinions for the shadows where they could speak easy.
Both the CADA and Arpilleras were forced to work within the limits established by a ruthless dictatorship, and because of such they were able to break down the somewhat traditional barriers of art. Both groups and their art forms were able to extend the power of their works by utilizing it as political resistance instead of aesthetic pleasure. The governmental tension in Chile at the time led to a change in the reception of art, from recreational to political. Moreover, due to the intensity and brutality of the Pinoche regime, the Arpilleras used their hand-woven blankets/patches as a means of expression. The secrecy and perseverance of the Arpilleras and the CADA was worthwhile in the long run as pieces were exported throughout the world, where others could learn of Chile’s political turmoil.
In my opinion, the CADA’s and Arpilleristas’s art work was groundbreaking in the art world. It completely ignored traditional styles and traditional constraints that were generally present in the art scene at that time. What they really introduced that was so avant-garde was the fact that their art transcended aesthetic appeal and took self-expression to a whole new level and gave it significantly more meaning. It was a form of political rebellion in a authoritative regime.
Though Allende maintained a regime that embraced art, many artists were forced to flee the country post-coup. Art became political in Chile during the 80s.
The Arpilleras women are not what one thinks of as artists when they imagine, but they undoubtedly were artists. During Pinochet’s regime, art was the only outlet they had to relate to one another and share their stories and resist! The CADA was also focused on using art to demonstrate problems under the regime and occasionally, stimulate protests against Pinochet.
I think that art has always held a valuable position in inspiring change and politics. Art is understood by the masses and can therefore be very potent in spreading important social messages. Just as it was in Chile during Pinochet’s regime.
Both of these creators of art, CADA and Arpillerista, were groundbreaking forms of art because they completely ignored traditional style and barriers under a government that was strictly, and often even dangerously against the breaking of these constraints. Their art transcended anything else that was present on the art scene at this time, both aesthetically and in terms of expression, and gave the medium significantly more meaning or impact. It is especially incredible that they managed to do this under such authoritative regimes. To me, the Arpillerista were even more amazing because they were unconventional female artists in a field that was largely dominated by men. And they were creating art that had never been seen,imagined or conceived of before to the point where people question whether it was really art at all. But they could not have been anything other than artists who creates pieces that encouraged their fellows to resist.
CADA’s and the Artillerists took away the traditional way to think about art, this is shown through the way they were used in the Zurita’s case by people who had not seemed to be in art. Arpilleras seemed to be a response by the artists as a response to things that were happening and have happened in their lives. As well as Zurita starting to write poetry after being arrested. Both the work of CADA’s and the Arpilleras seemed to be trying to relate to the everyday people, before the military coup and after, but it did not achieve this all the time because it seemed to be disruptive at the same time. The Apilleras used bright colours and depicted their streets and houses but often added in their disappeared or messages that related to it. CADA tried to disrupt the public life and discovered the fakeness the government was attempting to uphold in Chile, at the time of the dictatorship. This art helped the people in the public life to realize many of the problems in the government.
CADA’s art was created to portray their political ideology and to recruit others to their beliefs. They displayed their art in the cities for all to see, they in fact made it almost impossible to not see their displays. By throwing pamphlets out of an airplane, writing poems in the sky, and digging words into the desert they hoped to attract others to their political ideology. Arpilleristas told their own personal stories through their artwork. By using clothes and belongings of the “disappeared” they attached the pain and emotion of their suffering to their art. Their art, instead of attracting others to their cause, was designed to force one to feel emotion towards their suffering.
In times of heavy restriction on expression, one observes an interesting pattern form in many places, at many times; the Italian Renaissance and English Renaissance saw a huge upturn in art, both performed and painted, due to artistic communities being places of relative tolerance, marginal discretion, and creative drive. Leonardo Da Vinci, once arrested for homosexuality, then provided a refuge for other gays once he struck fortune. CADA and the Arpilleristas are a prime example of the overlap that exists between artists and activist ideologues; desperate to spread their message of resistance and freedom in any way they could, clandestine avant-garde art proved to be the perfect manner of recruiting other disgruntled Chileans and showing their captors that art will always fight for its right to exist and inspire.
The Arpillas and CADA were artistic expressions of rebellion against the Chilean Government. The Aprillias were made to empower the women who’s families had been affected by the disappearances. These women were normally very poor, but through workshops and aid from organizations and churches they learned a marketable skill that allowed them to share their experiences. Depicting these works on burlap sacs made them unique, resourceful, and beautiful. Messages about torture could not be explicit due to fear of the government. This theme of secrecy was also evident in the work of CADA which broke traditional rules of from with their artistic expression. CADA’s protest art, especially their No + display, reminds me of Shia LabBouf’s attempts to galvanize the public to protest through the power of social movement.
CADA and the Arpilleristas substantially displayed a very unique set of artworks in response to the difficult political situation in Chile during the time. One can only imagine the devastation of losing your family in a genocide or mass disappearances, and hence it would seem natural for the people to manifest their emotions through a creative medium. While the art, inherently subjective as it is, stands as a statement against not only the dictatorship and poor leadership of Pinochet, it also speaks as a testament for humanity and the importance of resistance in a climate where change for the people and their rights is necessary.