«Ver la verdad del ver»: El arte de Cecilia Vicuña ante el estallido social chileno (2019-2020)

Abstract

Social networks played a fundamental role in the Chilean social revolt of October 2019. It is widely known that they were used to call for the first mass mobilizations and that later, they provided alternative information that was not communicated by the official media, particularly regarding the brutal actions of state repression. It is estimated that more than four hundred civilians suffered eye injuries caused by tear gas and shots by police officers. Among them, there are several people who lost an eye or became completely blind. In solidarity with the victims and joining the demands of student, indigenous and feminist groups, among others, many artistic groups participated in the manifestations and also circulated their proposals on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. In this paper we will refer to two interventions with/by the poet, artist and performer Cecilia Vicuña (Santiago de Chile, 1948) that revolved around the eyes, sight and the visible. On the one hand, we will analyze them in the context of the artistic manifestations that addressed the issue, conceived in the heat of the 2019 events. On the other hand, their examination will allow us to outline some features of a politics of gaze that is consubstantial to Vicuña’s aesthetic project.