JUAN CASTILLO Y LOTTY ROSENFELD ‘CADA día es +: Juan Castillo/Lotty Rosenfeld’

Within a period of occupation and violence during Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile, where peace and democracy were deeply yearned for, the group C.A.D.A. (Colectivo de Acciones de Arte –Artistic Accions Collective-, 1979-1985) emerged.

They wanted to contribute to the reformulation of art discourses and also produce a provocative work that could challenge the relationships among art, politics and the city.

The group C.A.D.A. was founded in 1979 in Santiago de Chile. Its founders were the visual artists Juan Castillo and Lotty Rosenfeld, the sociologist Fernando Balcells, the writer Diamela Eltit and the poet Raúl Zurita.

The actions they carried out were: Para no morir de hambre en el arte –To prevent starving when you’re an artist–, 1979; Inversión de escena –Scene Inversion–, 1979; Ay, Sudamérica, 1981; El fulgor de la huelga –The brilliance of the strike–, 1981; A la hora señalada –At the appointed time–, 1982; No +, 1983; Viuda –Widow–, 1985.

Opening this exhibition at this moment, in this continent, entails an invitation to think once again about the state of affairs and reconsider political models. Two of the members of the group C.A.D.A. are the artists Lotty Rosenfeld and Juan Castillo: an important part of the show is dedicated to them and their latest works.

In the case of Lotty Rosenfeld we review her piece Una milla de cruces sobre el pavimento –One Mile of Crosses on the Road Surface– and her latest audiovisual works.

Here, the “mile of crosses on the road surface” appears as a + on the forehead. This symbol, frequently used in our socialized culture, turns into its contrary by exerting the slightest manipulation: a line perpendicular to the broken line that means «overtaking allowed». It appears as the opposite of an addition: the plus sign becomes a continuum of crosses that must be overcome.

Human destiny is an open question. This idea is made clear in Castillo’s work: the artist intends to trace the chance of revolution in the dreams of the people he interviews. Lucid and aware, he digs into an oneiric realm to look for «the person as something that is yet to be discovered» (Bloch, 1930-32). Castillo lets the interviewed present their dreams as a way to experience fantasy, a sort of «magic idealism» based on «the true dream that inspires everything»: an image of «us” and of «the self» that lies deep in our conscience but is always incomplete.

Maybe these interviews serve as mirrors of what we are right now and yet hint at what we might turn into.

IMAGE GALLERIES

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