The Italian Cultural Institute of Santiago de Chile, in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) and with the support of the National Fund for the Development of Culture and the Arts of the Chilean Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, presents the exhibition “Chimeras. The 1974 Biennale as a social laboratory of the present” at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Open to the public until 7 September, the exhibition aims to weave a creative dialogue between the Italian artist Eugenio Tibaldi and the Chilean Patrick Hamilton, curated by Eugenio Viola. The project stems from the idea of restoring value to and recalling the importance of the 1974 edition of the Venice Biennale, which featured a rich creative programme entirely dedicated to Chile, just months after Augusto Pinochet’s coup d’état.
The 1974 Biennale, as curator Eugenio Viola explains, brought together a heterogeneous participation of artists and poetic expressions, united in the idea of transforming Venice and its streets into a true laboratory capable of generating a social and political reflection on the dramatic events in Chile.
Cristina Di Giorgio, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute of Santiago, emphasised how the artistic reflection on the 1974 Venice Biennale edition still offers curators and artists the opportunity to develop a creative proposal that strengthens the ties between Italy and Chile.
“This is a project that aims to give historical and artistic prominence to the 1974 Biennale, but also seeks to bring to Chile a curatorial and creative proposal of the highest calibre. Viola, Tibaldi and Hamilton form an internationally renowned trio that, besides poetically merging Italy and Chile, join forces here at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santiago to create a site-specific installation of great impact, both aesthetically and in terms of the emotional and sensory experience visitors will enjoy when attending the exhibition”.
