Espacios Escultóricos (1969): analysis and reconstruction of an exhibition that marks the emergence of installation art in Chile

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5209/aris.98839
Keywords: Víctor Hugo Núñez, exhibitions in Chile, political contingency, experimentality, installation art

Abstract

In 1969, Chilean sculptor Víctor Hugo Núñez held the exhibition Espacios Escultóricos (Sculptural Spaces) at the now disappeared Sala Universitaria of the University of Chile. The show included the exhibition of an environmental piece that put in dialogue the political commitment and the experimental zeal of the moment. The purpose of this article is to present the results of a research oriented to the analysis of this exhibition and its context of production. The relevance of this study lies in its unprecedented condition within the history of local art, a situation that is based on the rescue of a key work that strained the existing relationships between the work, the space and the viewer. The methodology proposed for this study focused on the critical analysis of written and visual documents, which was combined with a semi-structured interview with the artist. In view of the results obtained, the historiographic and digital reconstruction of the exhibition stands out, an action that allowed concluding that Espacios Escultóricos marks the anteroom in the emergence of installation art in the Chilean context.

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Author Biography

Rodrigo Bruna, Universidad de Chile

Artista visual, investigador y académico. Doctor en Historia del Arte, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Doctor en Artes mención Artes Visuales, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Magíster en Artes mención en Artes Visuales y Licenciado en Artes mención Artes Plásticas, Universidad de Chile. En el año 2001 obtiene una beca del Servicio Alemán de Intercambio Académico para realizar estudios de postgrado en Bildende Kunst en la Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, junto a los profesores Daniel Buren y Gerhard Merz. Como investigador, su labor se orienta hacia el campo de la teoría y la práctica en artes visuales, con énfasis en la instalación (arte) como medio de reflexión y producción. Es miembro del Grupo de Investigación sobre Estudios Interdisciplinares del Arte, Diseño y Cultura. Facultad de Estudios Superiores Cuautitlán, UNAM. Actualmente es Profesor Asociado de la Facultad de Artes, Universidad de Chile.

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Published
2025-07-03
How to Cite
Bruna R. (2025). Espacios Escultóricos (1969): analysis and reconstruction of an exhibition that marks the emergence of installation art in Chile. Arte, Individuo y Sociedad, 37(3), 439-450. https://doi.org/10.5209/aris.98839
Issue
Vol. 37 No. 3 (2025)
Section
Articles

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