We are footprint | 50 years of the Coup
On the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Military Coup, we remember the 31,686 victims. We honor the lives that were taken by the dictatorship, those who were tortured, persecuted, exiled and also their families and loved ones: all who still suffer beyond what we can express in words.
“The footprint of our history, we create it today”
— 50 years of the Coup (1973-2023).
Commemorating these 50 years leads us to underline the value of democracy and the importance of our citizen participation as agents of change. To this end, we have prepared a program with works and actions present in rooms and squares, which also activate citizen participation and co-design projects that reflect views on these 50 years.
Lighting action in Torre Villavicencio
On Monday, September 11, the Villavicencio Tower was the protagonist of a GAM-Delight Lab lighting action to honor the victims of the Coup.
UChile TV Cycle | Views from the stage
Artists present at GAM comment on their processes, concerns and references to bring their creations to the public with a focus on the 50 years of the Coup d'état. A GAM-UCileTV co-production
“By remembering a dictatorship that caused so much pain, GAM seeks to provide new emotional, spiritual and scientific knowledge, so that each person and as a society can assume that we are experiencing a collective trauma and work on it from the artistic and cultural dimensions.”
— Felipe Mella, GAM executive director.
Memory | Diego Portales Building
After the 1973 coup d'état and the bombing of La Moneda, the Government Board of Augusto Pinochet took possession of the Gabriela Mistral Metropolitan Center, closed its entrances, shielded its windows, and along with destroying or making a large part of its art collection disappear, changed its name.
On October 11 of that year - the same day that the War Council executed several prisoners in Pisagua - the building was officially registered with the name Diego Portales through a pompous military-style ceremony that included the national anthem, and thus remained immovable for decades.
Pinochet returned to govern from La Moneda on March 11, 1981, but the Ministry of Defense and the Legislative Branch remained in the Diego Portales facilities. And also Carabineros, as part of the National Security framework. Its plenary hall continued to be the scene of the speeches that Pinochet addressed to the citizens on a national network.
On March 11, 1990, with the return to democracy, the tower continued to be the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense, but the building became a conference center. That is, until the 2006 fire allowed us to think about a new life for the construction, and GAM began to take shape.
As a cultural center we are in the process of forming a graphic archive of the Diego Portales building. With your audiovisual testimony you can provide insights into the memory of the different lives that the building that now houses GAM has had. You can send photos and videos from the period 1973-1989 (when it was the headquarters of the Military Junta that exercised Executive, Legislative, and Constituent power) to the email archivodiegoportales@gam.cl.
The file from the previous period is in archivodigital.gam.cl
“When half a century has passed since the military coup, more than ever we want to protect our humanity. We want to learn to live sustainable lives for all living beings, to respect the rhythms of who we are, to strengthen communication, integrity, physical and mental health of all people, especially boys and girls, young people, seed of the future, integrating older people”
— María José Cifuentes, director of GAM Programming.
Billboard #50Years
Previous activities
GAM Look | 50 years
As a cultural center we want to be a space for different intelligences to develop, to listen to each other and share knowledge about what it means to be human today. To do this we promote the first of all diversities, the individual. Each face leaves a trace, each living being has something unique to contribute to the world. We are all #SomosHuella
