Demonumentalization of a controversial public space to constitute a place with new embodied meanings. The case of Plaza Dignidad in Santiago de Chile

Authors

  • Cristian Rojas Cabezas Universidad de Valparaiso
  • Juan Esteban Alvarado Villarroel Universidad de Valparaiso

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_zarch/zarch.2021165096

Keywords:

exaltation, denigration, ruin, de-monumentalization, Resignifaction, Post-patrimony

Abstract

Taking into consideration  the difficulty that it is separating the public space from monuments placed there, we expose the different transformations that have taken place in the public space “Plaza Italia/Baquedano/Dignidad” in Santiago, Chile, during the different protests, also known as, “Estallido Social”, that took place in this particular spot during the lasts months of 2019. Moments in which both the collective pulsations of the popular masses and the measures employed by the State in an attempt of regaining institutional order, results in a sort of “post-patrimony” found in the action that the bodies and layers of action occurred during the exaltation and denigration of the patrimonial pieces pre-existent. Moreover, we discuss that this process of “de-monumentalization” builds a public space with the capacity of sheltering the manifestation of a social collective, and alter the traditional meaning of the relation between sculpture and place, this way, defying the previous vision of patrimonial safeguard as a value in itself.

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Author Biographies

Cristian Rojas Cabezas, Universidad de Valparaiso

Born in Valparaíso, Chile on July 22nd of 1973. Architect. University of Valparaíso, Chile. Magister in Regional Development and Environment, University of Valparaíso, Chile. Currently working on Phd Thesis in the University of Sevilla, Spain. Full-time academic at the School of Architecture in the University of Valparaiso. Manages end-of-the-year projects, workshops of architectural projects  and thesis. Currently Director of the Center for Landscape Studies of the School of Architecture of the University of Valparaíso. Participant of international colloquiums and seminars about Landscape. Published articles in relation to public spaces, landscape, obsolescent architecture and de-monumentalization processes, in magazines such as PH of the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage and in some issues of the IdPA publication of the Higher Technical School of Architecture of the University of Seville. 

Juan Esteban Alvarado Villarroel, Universidad de Valparaiso

Born in Puerto Varas, Chile on December 13th of 1969. Architect. University of Valparaíso, Chile. Magister in Art. University of Chile. Professional career as an academic. He has guided degree projects and research thesis on the topics of architecture theory and creative process linking art, sculpture and architecture. Member of “Taller Quilpue”, he developed social housing projects such as the Union Worker Population in the Cerro Cordillera de Valparaíso, a project financed by the Junta de Andalucía, and a project in El Espacio Santa Ana financed by the Cultural Fund of the V Region. Founder of the LA2 art and architecture laboratory, developing initiatives such as the Cerro el Roble astronomical observatory research project and the improvement of the infrastructure for the Societa Canottieri Italiani club. In 2017 he participated in the CONART creative stay in Cochabamba, Bolivia. In 2020 he participated in the 5th Latin American meeting for the “teaching of architecture” held in Concepción, Chile.

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Published

2021-09-13

How to Cite

Rojas Cabezas, C., & Alvarado Villarroel, J. E. (2021). Demonumentalization of a controversial public space to constitute a place with new embodied meanings. The case of Plaza Dignidad in Santiago de Chile. ZARCH. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Architecture and Urbanism, (16), 154–167. https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_zarch/zarch.2021165096

Issue

No. 16 (2021): Remaking Contested Architectural Heritage, Rethinking Public Space

Section

Topic papers