voices inside

This installation by researcher Karen Bascuñan is a hammock that hangs from the ceiling of GAM. The public can lean on it to listen to the stories of people who participated in some of the historical stages of the building that today houses GAM. It was built in 275 days and was inaugurated in 1972 as the headquarters of UNCTAD III. It was then the Gabriela Mistral Metropolitan Cultural Center until the military coup of 1973, when it became the headquarters of the military junta. In this space the results of the plebiscite that ended the dictatorship in 1989 were delivered and in democracy it was transformed into an events center. In 2006 it burned down and it was decided to transform it into a cultural center that would develop audiences to bridge the gap in access to culture. That is the memory of Karen Bascuñan and her team collected from 20 interviews they conducted in GAM with people who lived or worked in this center.

The public can listen to the interviews and voices in a very particular way: they lie down in the cloud-shaped hammock that contains devices that function as sound transducers to the bone. Bone conduction allows sound to be transmitted through the bones without having to use the ears. In fact, it is recommended to cover them.

It is a moving and especially inspiring experience because when lying down, the public is left looking at the replicas of the works from the original building's collection: the stained glass window by Juan Bernal Ponce and one of the Manzanito whales.

Previous seasons

The installation was presented in GAM's central plaza between September 23 and October 22, 2016.