Iquique Regional Museum hangs by a thread due to nudity

“We hope that all the people who do not agree with the type of art that is being presented here in the museum will be there. We hope that all the people will come to the museum now, because the museum is public, so that they can see the type of art that is being presented.”

The words belong to regional councilor Claudia Hernández Pérez, who ran on the “Pacto Chile Vamos UDI – Independientes” list, as can be seen in the leader’s Facebook Live video. And they were pronounced this week during a visit by regional councilors to the Regional Museum of Iquique, within the framework of the Regional Council’s evaluation process to decide whether or not to renew the concession of the place.

The questions were about the operation of a cultural centre for diversity and, specifically, about an exhibition of it, consisting of photos of minority people by Zaida González.

The blood had finally reached the river.

That day, the uproar included questions about the museum’s director, Luis Perez, who was defended by Mayor Mauricio Soria. Hernández called Perez a liar, which led to a heated argument that ended in shouting. The mayor left the place and instructed the director to do the same so as not to expose him any more, he said later.

“When, at this meeting, there was an abuse against the director, calling him a liar, a professional person, who on the contrary, should be applauded for all the work he has done in this museum, he began to be ignored, and furthermore, called a liar in front of everyone at a meeting, then I said, this cannot continue, and I ended the meeting,” said the councilor.

“I removed the museum professionals, including Luis, because I cannot expose our professionals to people who are already beyond reason, who can come to their own home and insult them, and I will not allow that.”

The problem is that a possible closure of the museum would not only affect the cultural scene, but also public and private investment projects in the area. This is because, by law, the museum is the only one authorized to receive archaeological remains that may be found during the works.

“There are many things at play here in this conflict that has arisen. There are opinions that say it is a fictitious conflict. We are two months away from elections. Many people there are up for re-election. And it turns out that the museum, as it is a very visible space, became a fertile ground for these disputes that are not at all technical or within our professional sphere, but rather are more political,” Pérez told The Counter.

Revisionism

The museum operates in a National Assets complex and received the concession free of charge in 2019, on behalf of the Municipality of Iquique. Now the Regional Council must decide, in a session next Tuesday, whether to renew it or not.

The background to the conflict, according to sources in the cultural world, are some questionable exhibitions – such as an exhibition by photographer Zaida González, which includes some nudes – and the presence of a space for minorities, the La Inclusive Cultural Center.

Furthermore, it is happening in the middle of the electoral season, with the municipal elections in October just around the corner.

“I think that the renewal of the concession of the Regional Museum of Iquique became a moral discussion by the regional councilors, since it has become fashionable, following the events that occurred in Santiago with the exhibition ‘Struggles for Art’, for different far-right groups to begin to review what should and should not be shown in a museum space,” said cultural manager Rodolfo Andaur.

“I am very concerned because I have been working in the region for 20 years, and every so often revisionist interpretations by a conservative space only generate a rarefied atmosphere, and it is also very regrettable that the political situation in the region is not prepared to make new interpretations of the work that a museum does.”

Next vote

This week’s visit was not the first by regional councillors. Council President Abraham Díaz explains that in the process some councillors had requested information on the state of the museum, during which they visited the museum not once, but twice.

“As the president of the commission, what I am always interested in and what I think is that each application that is submitted has the approval and support of the entity that grants the concession, which is National Assets, and of the technical team of the regional government to approve it. I am always in favor of approving, regardless of the nature of this concession,” says Díaz.

He also explains that after the first visit, “it was satisfactory for us to see that everything was as stated in the five-year concession contract, so we were again convinced that we could approve the concession.” However, in view of the opposition of some councillors, a second visit was scheduled, which was where the controversy finally occurred.

There “they started to discuss things that had nothing to do with the concession of free use, because they started to talk about the administration of the place, which was not pertinent, they started to look at the things that were done there, which was not pertinent, they actually started to talk about how it worked, and it was not pertinent, because what we were dealing with and the powers that the law has granted us, is to pronounce on the concession of use. (…) Everything that is done there is another issue. I think that was the problem, when things start to get confused.”

“I would like to reassure artists and the world of culture,” added the president of the Council, who expressed optimism regarding the approval, although he admitted that “one cannot say how the vote will go.”

“I regret that this has been going on for quite some time and that it cannot be resolved in the Regional Council,” the councillor added.

Supervision

This newspaper unsuccessfully tried to contact councillor Claudia Hernández, who was responsible for reprimanding the museum director. Her colleague Daniela Solari (RN) did speak.

“This is also an issue of misinformation, and also many issues of ignorance on the part of some people,” “from the fact that we wanted to end this concession,” Solari told this media.

“Indeed, the only thing that is being requested here is a visit to the field, where we can verify and verify that what was being said in the papers was reflected in the field,” he said.

“I have a clear conscience that what we have done is to monitor and vote in conscience, which is what it means. Obviously, when one is in certain positions, one has to take certain precautions, to ensure that the infrastructure is maintained in the conditions it is in.”

Asked if there was any problem with the museum’s exhibits, Solari said:

“No, no, I am not getting involved in the issue of the use of the substitute model by the regional museum. That is what we have tried to convey, only that there is an issue of a space in the museum that has been ceded to an institution, X, and that institution X does not have any agreement, there is no signed document that accredits the use or the cession of that space for that institution, and what we are asking, in my case, is that it be regularized in the pertinent manner, as is also required, in this case, by the contracts that National Assets makes with any entity that has a concession,” he explained.

The cultural center of controversy

With his statements, Solari referred precisely to a space questioned by some that operates within the museum. It is the Cultural Center La Inclusive, which uses an exhibition room (“Tránsito”), where the controversial photographs of Zaida González were exhibited, in addition to a library and a space for various workshops.

Specifically, the “Tránsito” room was born from the need for a space for exhibition, mediation and collection of works by dissident and/or neurodivergent artists from the Tarapacá Region, according to information on the Ministry of Culture’s website.

Since 2019, Comunidad Cultural La Inclusive has promoted, in a self-managed manner, exhibitions and montages of works created by artists from the region and also as a completion of training processes around modern art.

“Currently, inhabiting a space of the Regional Museum of Iquique, we have the appropriate space for the exhibition, mediation and conservation of works of dissident modern art by regional and national artists, who seek respectful and friendly contexts for their identities and works,” states the Ministry of Cultures website.

One of the co-directors of the space is Camila Pizarro. She points out that the center operates thanks to a document signed by the museum director.

“It is a space facilitation in which we deliver an annual program that meets audiences, fulfills programmatic axes and associativity, which is the most important thing between the museum as an entity and the cultural center.”

“Some counselors had received comments that we were displaying sinful images and that there was also a reference to pornography. The cores also showed and shared photographs without context, they made a pertinent mediation around images from the exhibition ‘The Final Judgement’ by Zaida González. Now, it is a delicate subject because when sharing a graphic piece, a work by an artist as important as Zaida, if there is no reference or discussion about the context of the work, it can clearly be a misinterpreted image,” he says.

“I also think that the most delicate thing is that this questioning does not exist with the Sistine Chapel, with the emblems of art and painting that have always painted naked bodies, but these bodies in particular, which are the ones that Zaida exhibits in this montage, are dissident bodies, they are trans women, they are trans men, they are non-binary people, they are people with Down syndrome, they are functionally diverse people, so it seems that what could perhaps cause a questioning, a resentment effectively, is that we are not showing hegemonic naked bodies.”

Pizarro explained that the cultural center has the programmatic axes of LGBT, of divergences, “so, of course, we are immediately associated perhaps with a political party, which is not the case because we declare ourselves as non-partisan people, who have a political role in society, but not directly from the trenches, so to speak, that they have within the core, which are clearly democratically elected people, but who belong to political parties.”

Work of the cultural center

The museum director himself regrets what happened, where the altercations also occurred in the midst of people visiting the museum.

“For us, in the heritage sector, it is a bit complex because we are not used to these contexts that are a bit far from the technical field and the professional area of ​​heritage in which we are developing, especially in a museum space, in a museum, and of course, in the middle of the working day,” he explains.

“And it was, of course, very tense, because the museum was open to the public, we had schools, there were children, there were courses, and there were also visitors, tourists.”

“It was a context that was not the best for a discussion, which was already somewhat exposed to the alignments of each bench, so to speak. The cores obviously have their political alignment, beyond their role with the citizens. So they deploy and have their role there within their work. And that, well, that was where it became very tense,” he admitted.

Regarding the controversial exhibits, he admitted that “there are exhibitions, for example, that have nudes.”

“In many cases, they are not explicit nudes, they are questions that are poorly posed. When people say, hey, why is the museum exhibiting this? Well, it is an anthropological museum. And the story does not end with the epic of saltpeter. Regional culture is still alive today and there is a badge of gaze. Yes. Within that there are also interpretations of art that are going to exhibit nudes, for example, but they are not explicit or pornographic issues. And all this generated, of course, opinions expressed by a councilor in particular, who brought it up at the time and raised the tone a bit with her. There she questioned me and the mayor decided, as he was the president of the corporation, that it was not appropriate, that I should not be disrespectful as a museum official. So he asked that this visit be over and asked me, please, to finish the presentation and then I left.”

Strategic role

Pérez also insisted that the museum plays an important role in culture, but is also strategic because “it is the only repository for archaeological collections today in the Norte Grande.”

“And this means that we receive commitments for deposits of collections, for public and private projects. This means that projects such as infrastructures like the airport, the electrical networks, which are currently undergoing archaeological excavations, compromise their continuity as soon as a deposit is available. If this is voted unfavorably, the museum, and for my part as professional director, I have to revoke these commitments. This will also happen with emblematic projects, for example, that generate a huge amount of jobs such as games, the construction of Coyahuasi, solar plants. All the development projects in the Tarapacá region, public and private, are also compromised in everything,” he warned.

The mayor finally insists that “the museum will continue to operate, and it will continue to be run by the Municipality of Iquique, through the Municipal Development Corporation of Iquique.”

Collaborative spirit

And the regional governor himself, José Miguel Carvajal, said he was “surprised” by the way in which the events and incidents occurred.

In his opinion, “the spirit of collaborative work between the different institutions and collegiate bodies should prevail, always within the framework of respect.”

“I understand that there is a situation probably due to political interests, but it seems to me that what the community expects is that you can support this concession so that the municipal team can work on the various investments and arrangements that the museum also requires.”

“I hope that the councillors will be able to approve this concession at the next plenary session of the regional council and that this type of incident will not be the norm for the work of the regional council during this election period,” he stressed.

Finally, when asked about the samples that have been the subject of criticism from some councillors, he replied that “I think that this is not the point on which the matter should be addressed.”

There is “a team of professionals from the municipality in the museum and they have a work agenda in place regarding the different exhibits that they generate for the community, the diversity, the heritage wealth that the territory has, therefore, giving an opinion on any particular activity seems to me not to be something for the regional council,” he concluded.