“Subversiones/Imposturas,” the introductory essay written by the curator Patricio Muñoz Zárate (b. 1960), appeared in the catalogue for the IV Bienal de Arte, held at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Santiago, January–March, 2004). The exhibition was part of the series of Young Artist Biennials organized by the MNBA, beginning in 1997, to show works produced by young artists. The first of these events, Arte Joven en Chile 1986-1996, was curated by Guillermo Machuca (1961–2020) and Justo Pastor Mellado (b. 1949), who selected eleven artists whose works were produced during the course of a decade. The second, Ala sur (1999), curated by Ricardo Loebell (b. 1954), included works by fifteen artists that were shown in the museum and offsite in places associated with torture and imprisonment during the dictatorship (1973–90). The third, Situación del Arte Contemporáneo Chileno (2001), was jointly organized by Mario Soro (b. 1957), the artist Jorge Lay, and the art theorist David Maulen. This was a controversial event because there were no artworks or artists; instead, the exhibition addressed the state of Chilean art with discussion groups, diagrams, texts, and lectures delivered in the showrooms at the MNBA. After Subversiones/Imposturas, the fifth iteration, Utopías de bolsillo (2006), curated by Alberto Madrid, presented perspectives (real and imaginary) of the country created by the eleven participating artists by means of decontextualized materials, parodies, and humor. The final edition was Triatlón (2008), jointly created by Paulina Varas (b. 1975), Simonetta Rossi, and Natalia Arcos (b. 1979), in which each one made a selection according to where she was from. Varas (Valparaíso) presented Aproximaciones a una poética-política; Rossi (Concepción) organized 515 KM. Planos; and Arcos (Santiago) produced Santiago Morning.
Muñoz Zárate decided to discard the idea of “Young Artists” because he thought it limited the range of works that could be shown; he also wanted to encourage regional participation, regardless of age. The artists represented a generation that had trained in the mid-1990s, an open period that had not yet been sufficiently studied by the historiography of Chilean art. Some of those artists went on to enjoy long careers. Participants in the event included: Julen Birke (b. 1973), Paola Caroca (b. 1970), Claudio Correa (b. 1972), Felipe Faúndez, Francisca García (b. 1969), Josefina Guilisasti (b. 1963), Patrick Hamilton (b. 1974), Cristián Jaramillo (b. 1971), Kika Mazry (b. 1967), Livia Marín (b. 1973), Fernando Melo (b. 1964), Rodrigo Merino, Álvaro Oyarzún (b. 1960), Sebastián Preece (b. 1972), Gerardo Pulido (b. 1975), Carolina Salinas (b. 1976), Pedro Sepúlveda (b. 1972), Demian Shopf (b. 1972), Vanessa Vásquez, Francisco Valdés (b. 1969), Alonso Yañez (b.1972), and Patrick Steeger (b. 1970).
