Beyond the Book, but Still Attached: Publishing by Artists in Chile in the 1990s and 2000s

As in other Latin American countries, post-avant-garde artistic practices in Chile suffered the impact of a ferocious dictatorship. Forced to resist censorship and prosecution, they were often connected to positions of political dissent, showing a desire to reclaim public spaces and involve spectators in the production of meaning. Despite these difficulties, artist publishing under Pinochet underwent a period of extremely rich experimentation. Examining the period following the advent of democracy, this essay analyses some examples of artistic initiatives from the so-called ‘1990s generation’: publications by the collectives Jemmy Button Inc. and Muro Sur, and one of the works by Voluspa Jarpa, who was a member of both groups.