In her essay “Cada 20 años” (Every 20 Years), Diamela Eltit reviews the art activities organized by C.A.D.A. (Colectivo de Acciones de Arte; Art Action Collective) during the two decades since the group was started in 1979. She also discusses C.A.D.A.’s defining initiatives during the course of its existence, including how the group used the city (as metaphor, cultural battleground, and artistic support), how they expressed their discontent through their art actions, and their overwhelming need to adopt a critical approach to the dictatorship. In the author’s opinion, reminiscing about C.A.D.A. during its early years helps to show how the group was constantly changing as it evolved. Eltit’s description of the emergence of C.A.D.A. takes on a personal tone because of her deep involvement in the group’s organization and development from the very beginning.  

Diamela Eltit’s essay “Cada 20 años” appeared in the nineteenth issue of the Revista  de Crítica Cultural, which was published in November 1999. The issue, whose overall title is “Ciudad, arte y política” (City, Art, and Politics), also included texts by Carlos Ossa, Ana Longoni [see the ICAA Digital Archive (doc. no. 739552)], Fernando Balcells, Sandra Accatino, and Nury González, among others, who all mused about the theme the magazine had picked for this particular number. Nelly Richard launched this magazine in 1990 and directed it until 2008. It appeared a total of thirty-six times and published essays and critical texts that were written in styles ranging from academic to something that goes beyond institutional limits. This was the source of texts by many critics, theorists, and artists that fueled intellectual debate concerning the role of culture under the Pinochet dictatorship and, especially, during the country’s return to democracy.   

In her essay Eltit describes the founding and objectives of C.A.D.A. (Colectivo de Acciones de Arte, Art Action Collective), whose list of members—other than the author—included Raúl Zurita (writer and poet), Lotty Rosenfeld and Juan Castillo (both of whom were visual artists), and Fernando Balcells (sociologist). According to Nelly Richard, the publisher of the magazine, C.A.D.A. was a vital part of the Escena de Avanzada (Advanced Scene) because of its political commitment, its rejection of an institutional approach to art and, most of all, its opposition to the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet (1973–90) and, by extension, censorship, human rights violations, and the economic, cultural, and social pillars that supported the regime.