Given that their form of representation is far from being static, they allude to the feelings provoked by past events, particularly in families, but also in Argentinean society as a whole.
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Dennis Oppenheim: Monumento al Escape (Monument to the Escape). Internationally recognized for his works based on architectural deconstructions, the piece by North American Oppenheim also emphasizes emotional factors, in this case, those related to the victims who suffered monstrous imprisonments. His work speaks specifically about escape and liberation, two components that constitute the basis of his sculpture, expressed through his handling of solid forms and openings. It is comprised of three ten square meter blocks of concrete finished off with slanted red acrylic roofs, whose structure is reinforced with metal bars that also appear in the windows, as they do in prisons. At the same time, these blocks have been subject to being raised, which renders their function as physical enclosures ineffective, a concept that is reinforced by openings in the mass that allow light to enter, leaving the architecture to discover its own formal behavior while disregarding the function imposed upon it. Above and beyond the reading that alludes to an imprisonment–escape dichotomy, the forms are liberated with a defiant attitude and they become pure art, legitimizing their capability to inspire many different meanings. The dialogue provoked between the three proposals that employ architecture as their form of expression will contribute to enriching the significance of each one, and will surely generate a fascinating visual dynamism that adds greatly to the park as a whole. Germán Botero: Huaca. Inspired in pre–Columbine tradition, this Colombian artist chose a concept as the stimulus for his work in which the ritual character that is immanent in him unfolded during the course of its materialization. In Andean culture, Huaca
1 Fragmento of Carmen Lapacó, representative of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, Línea Fundadora’s words. Public hearing. Stenographic version. Legislatura de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, May 22, 1988.
2
refers to the site or place where the symbolic exchange between life and death would take place, the space where a different existence continued, understood as continuity and a constant dialogue between two forms of life. With the concept of Huaca, Botero’s sculpture proposes a ritual space where the relationship between the disappeared and the earth to which they pertain is expressed. In order to do this, he makes use of various horizontal black, white and terracotta colored planes with channels of water that symbolize life that pass through and a hollow in the center that speaks of an absent body. This workexpresses the Latin American cultural community. Connected to the earth, it moves along the terrain, barely protruding with a slight relief and gracefully incorporating itself into the park, as though it were a form that had been drawn on its surface. As can be seen, this group of projects, along with the proposals of other artists who were directly invited by the organizing Committee, bear a profound relationship to the surroundings and they are all successful at establishing a dialogue with the physical space that constitutes their framework, above all they look to involve viewers in an aesthetic experience in the interests of guaranteeing a deeper comprehension of the ethical character implicit in the messages they transmit. The manner in which the majority of the artists were able to use the space as a metaphor for memory is particularly noteworthy, along with how they appropriated the different ways it manifests itself: as a construction, as a route or as a visually evocative symbol. This will enable the park to enjoy the diversity that the size and variety of its physical environment requires. There is no doubt in my mind that this Park will constitute a handsome tribute in the endeavor to keep alive the memory of a generation whose worst sin was to “want a more just country, with a greater sense of solidarity, a country where it is love and justice, not hate and death, that reigns”5.
The author was a member of the Jury for the Parque de la Memoria Sculpture Competition. This article was originally published in 1999. 3 Feinmann, José Pablo, “El río y la memoria”, Página/12, Buenos Aires, December 13, 1977.
4
Ibid. Alba Lanzillotto, representative of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo. Public hearing. Stenographic version. Legislatura de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, May 22, 1988. 5