In this article Milan Ivelic discusses conditions in Chile for the benefit of Spanish visitors to the exhibition Chile Vive that was held at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid. One of the main things that stands out about Chile, as seen from the outside, is its ambiguous capacity for resignation and resistance. In spite of its constant natural catastrophes (earthquakes and floods) and sociopolitical threats (a military dictatorship), the country manages to create “rescue strategies” that are not as widely reported or accessible to most people. These local circumstances spawn artistic and cultural productions that are expressed in response to inevitable events, creating a subculture that subverts individual and group behaviors with signs and messages. Ivelic’s main theory is based on a “decolonizing” approach that reappraises Latin America’s historical position in critical terms, thereby openly challenging concepts of “identity,” “dependence,” “autonomy,” and “coexistence,” among others. He underscores the dependence created in Chile by the status quo that is imposed by the art system; that is, that reproduces the art model through its distributing agents (galleries, critics, magazines, art dealers, and so on). On the other hand, the works of art suffer from a sort of “receptive uniformity” that ignores local (historical, social, economic, and cultural) conditions.     

In his article “Artes visuales: Una mirada crítica” Milan Ivelic, the academic, critic, and director of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA) from 1993 to 2011, offers a wide-ranging review of the various problems besetting the art world in Chile. He provides very important local details that shed light on the environment in which works are produced and on the artists’ milieu. Over time, this article has become a good source for foreign researchers who want to understand and analyze the finer points of the cultural and sociopolitical situation in Chile.    

Ivelic’s article was published in the catalogue for Chile Vive, the exhibition presented at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid. The goal of the exhibition was to showcase the art that had been fostered by government censorship and a military dictatorship (1973–90), a period that was described as a “cultural blackout.” This exhibition, held in Madrid, showed how the production of works of art (literature, music, theater, and film) did not stop; it just found new places where it could be shown, mainly in private venues and on the premises of certain organizations, alternative cultural centers, and embassies (in their relevant sections, such as the French Institute and the North American Cultural Center). This list indicates the role played by the private sector and foreign organizations in support of the avant-garde art that was shunned by the Chilean government.