C.A.D.A. (Colectivo Acciones de Arte), the art actions group that was active from 1979 to 1985, produced printed material that they inserted in opposition publications that were critical of the fascist dictatorship imposed by General Augusto Pinochet’s coup d’état in 1973. This insert appeared in Análisis, Apsi, and Cauce magazines and in La Época, a newspaper. It was jointly created by the photographer Paz Errázuriz (b. 1944), who took the photograph, the poet Gonzalo Muñoz (b. 1956), and the Movimiento Unitario Mujeres por la Vida (1983), commonly known as Mujeres por la Vida. This insert was the group’s last project; C.A.D.A. was by then down to its two female members, Diamela Eltit (b. 1949) and Lotty Rosenfeld (1943–2020).
C.A.D.A. was an art action group whose members included the artists Lotty Rosenfeld (1943–2020) and Diamela Eltit (b. 1949), who is also a writer; the artist Juan Castillo (b. 1952); the sociologist Fernando Balcells (b. 1950), and the poet Raúl Zurita (b. 1950). The group used the city and its art spaces as supports for their works. Their first project was Para no morir de hambre en el arte [To Avoid Starving to Death in Art] (1979), which involved several simultaneous components consisting of actions staged: in a working-class neighborhood in Santiago, outside of the United Nations building, at the Galería de Arte Centro Imagen, and in an insert that referenced the action in HOY magazine. The group also invited other artists to take part in the project. This concept of multiple actions helped to launch a program of group works staged in different locations (institutional or not) and performed according to a range of different strategies. The group joined forces on this project with Mujeres por la Vida, a group of women from different political and social backgrounds who opposed the regime and staged protest performances in public spaces with the aim of mobilizing their demands.
Viuda [Widow] addressed the political situation experienced by women who suddenly became their family’s sole means of support after their husbands had been detained, murdered, and disappeared, which were everyday occurrences during Pinochet’s military dictatorship. This woman’s face reflected the situation in which many Chilean women found themselves, women who fiercely defended human life and rights against the genocidal policies imposed by the State. During the 1970s and especially the 1980s the feminist movement emerged all over the country. Mujeres por la Vida was part of an exceptional political movement that included all social classes.
C.A.D.A. launched one of its most emblematic actions in 1983—one that still resonates today—by asking all Chilean artists to scribble the message “NO +” [No More] all over Santiago. The text could be expanded to include any of the myriad demands of a population that was being stifled by the country’s policies of economic liberalism and the dictatorship that imposed them. The message appeared all over the city and became the slogan of movements working for a return to democracy. [For other texts about the work produced by the C.A.D.A. group, see the following articles in the ICAA Digital Archive: “Cada día: la creación de un arte social” (doc. no. 732411) by Robert Neustadt; “La ampliación del espacio crítico” (doc. no. 734883) by Milan Ivelic and Gaspar Galaz; “Cada 20 años” (doc. no. 740299) by Diamela Eltit; see also “Una ponencia del CADA” (doc. no. 732133) written by the group.]
