A solo show by Cuban artist Tania Bruguera that was set to open September 8 at the Salvador Allende Solidarity Museum (MSSA) in Santiago, Chile, was first delayed and then altered after several people, among them the grandson of the deposed Chilean president for whom the hosting institution is named, decried the artist’s stance against the Communist government in her home country. Bruguera has been an unceasing critic of the Cuban states efforts to censor artists and activists.
Allende, a democratically elected president, was assassinated in 1973 during the coup d’etat of dictator Augusto Pinochet. The museum is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the slain socialist leader’s death this year. MSSA director Claudia Zaldivar told Artnews that the Salvador Allende Foundation, one of the entities that supports the museum, had approved Bruguera’s exhibition. However, just prior to the opening of her show, titled “Magnitud 11.9,” Allende’s grandson Pablo Sepúlveda Allende wrote to the museum demanding the show be canceled. He posted a screed on his X (formerly Twitter) account, in which he castigated Bruguera as “an artist who only stands out because her staging is politically contrary to the Cuban Revolution, that same Revolution that both Allende and millions and millions of people in Cuba and around the world admire, defend and love.”
Source : artforum.com
