Downloads
The UNCTAD III Art and Architecture Digital Archive is a freely accessible digital platform containing more than 600 public interest heritage archives on UNCTAD III. It is an archival investigation that brings together for the first time documentary funds that were physically in various institutions. It is focused on the years 1971 and 1972 and seeks to highlight the heritage of the building that today houses GAM, its political, social and cultural importance for the country.
Built in just 275 days by order of President Salvador Allende, the UNCTAD III building was a feat of collaborative work, in which hundreds of workers, artists and architects participated. Much of that history is today compiled by researcher Paulina E. Varas with support and financing from GAM.
“The project constitutes a valuable exercise in rescuing the memory of our country and highlighting what the construction of this milestone of architectural utopia in Chile meant,” says the executive director of GAM, Felipe Mella. "It will be a very useful consultation tool for all users who want to delve into the iconic history of our building. It is an investigation and compilation of incalculable heritage material," adds Mella.
Much of the material presented corresponds to documents never before socialized, such as parts of the collection of photographs that are preserved in the photographic archive of the National Library of the photographers Roberto Santandreu and Armindo Cardoso on the construction of the building outdoors and indoors and its daily use.
Likewise, you can find the personal collections of the artists Guillermo Núñez and Luz Donoso, which correspond to models of their works that have disappeared to date. A series of photographs of the manufacturing process of the work “The Chimney” by Félix Maruenda, the assembly of the sculpture in the building and a book of work that he himself made are exhibited.
There is also press material from the architect Hugo Gaggero, with news from the time from media such as El Siglo, El Mercurio, La Tercera de la Hora, etc. The Salvador Allende Foundation allows access to photographs of Allende's scissors and official speeches on UNCTAD III.
The audiovisual material includes the project “275 days” (2009-2011), a research and artistic project that consists of works of contemporary art for the reopening of the building in 2010. It includes material from the urban remodeling of the CORMU in Santiago and conversations at GAM with the architects of UNCTAD III, and with Miguel Lawner, Federico Assler, Eduardo Martínez Bonati, Eduardo Guerra, among others.
For the researcher in charge, Paulina E. Varas, "an archive updates in us what moves us to save and care for. Behind each documentary collection, the desire of those who preserved and cared for it often continues to beat. This archive is full of gestures of care that emerged from each of the people who saved it, sometimes in adverse conditions. It is an invisible sensitivity but one that beats in every photo, letter, newspaper clipping, sketch or plan that we can access."
The project, which has the collaboration of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, is developed with the AtoM (Access to Memory) system, specialized software that provides tools for the management of digital collections.
The site has the advice of the National Archive of Chile and its team from the National Archives System, and will be open to receive new donations of digitized files to rebuild part of the lost history.
The archive will be available at archivodigital.gam.cl from May 29, a date that will be celebrated on Heritage Day together with the Ministry of Culture and the Arts.