ART-PRESENTATION: Arturo Duclos-El Fantasma De La Utopía
In a world in which mankind has experienced the greatest advances but also the greatest inequalitie, the mere idea of achieving happiness sounds like pure nostalgia nowadays. No one is surprised or has any doubt when we say that we lost faith in utopia some time ago. What is this about? Perhaps the answer requires another question: is utopia still valid as an aspiration for a better or even perfect society?
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: MAVI Museum of Visual Arts Archive
Arturo Duclos, one of the younger members of the Chilean avant-garde, the so-called Escena de Avanzada, has always been interested in the idea of utopia and, particularly, in the inherent ambiguity that underlies the construction of utopia by Thomas Moore, and how this ambiguity has been sufficiently strong to accelerate history by means of battles, movements and revolutions. The exhibition “Arturo Duclos: el fantasma de la utopia” at the Museo de Artes Visuales (MAVI) in Santiago de Chile tackles these fascinating issues by reflecting on the major revolutionary movements of Latin America that tried to impose by force a more just society: Tupamaros, EZLN, FARC, Sendero Luminoso, M-19, MIR, 26 de Julio, FPMR, MRTA and FSLN. As the artist says “I was always interested in reading these configurations that proceed from the popular culture unconscious and that take the place in these paramilitary groups with a hierarchic regime based upon the religious dance groups”. The exhibition is part of a long-term project that reflects on the great narratives that have articulated the contemporary world and, in particular, on what they all promise without exception: the advent of utopia. In face of the doubts that the future casts, Arturo Duclos questions the past investigating what happened with the utopias of the revolutionary movements that in Latin America tried to impose a more just society through armed struggle. Through striking symbology and iconography of the revolutionary movements flags, Duclos confronts the spectator not only with ideals associated with the spirit of liberation, messianism and social utopia, but also allows a subtle comparison with the present and the fate of leftist governments in the last two decades in Latin America: from Chavez, Kirchner, Morales, Correa and Lula to Mujica. Through an interdisciplinary proposal ranging from drawing to sculpture, installation, painting, video, performance or photography that is displayed throughout four rooms of MAVI, the artist presents five thematic constellations: “Banderas”, “Caporales”, “Escudos de armas”, “Memorabilia” and “Machina anemica”, as well as “Cuartel General”, a tent located in the square of the museum that acts as a mediation point with the public. Arturo Duclos in the exhibition does not search for utopia in the future, but in the past, aware that the utopian spirit was permeated with nostalgia. And although the idea of utopia remains captivating, for Duclos it is like pursuing a necessary ghost that we vividly want to resurrect but never ends up appearing.
Info: Curator: Paco Barragán, MAVI Museum of Visual Arts, José Victorino Lastarria 307, Mulato Gil de Castro Square, Santiago, Duration: 8/6-20/8/17, www.mavi.cl
