2023-11-10 02:55:00
With unpublished material, the free exhibition traces the path to democratic consolidation, the creation of Conadep and the book Never Again. It has the historical archive of the Trial of the Editorial PERFIL Boards.
Thursday, November 9, 2023
In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the return to democracy, the Rojas Cultural Center opened its doors to the public with the exhibition “Memory Exercises”. Made by the UBA in collaboration with Editorial PROFILEthe audiovisual demonstration covers the arduous path towards democratic consolidation, from the constitution of the investigative commission into the crimes of the dictatorship, the formation of the Conadep until the Trial of the Boards.
The exhibition invites us to explore a pivotal moment in contemporary Argentine history, when respect for human rights laid the foundations for the democratic pact. It begins with the seizure of power Ricardo Alfonsinthe first constitutional president who took office in a context of political violence and who had the difficult task of initiating an investigation into complaints about the crimes of the dictatorship.
131 photos from Editorial PERFIL were exhibited for the first time in the exhibition “Exercises of memory”, at the Rojas Cultural Center.
“It’s a tremendous pride. We wanted to tell what it was like work of Conadep and how the UBA enters this story“said Mariana Rom, director of the Rojas Cultural Center.
A sample for memory
The tour consists of two parts. At first he invites the photo gallery with the exhibition of the book “Never Again: The Report of the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (Conadep)”, the historical document that served as evidentiary material in the trial of the dictators.
On the walls there is a timeline with the main milestones of the time, starting with heartbreaking testimonies from survivors of the dictatorship. It continues with the exhibition of the work carried out by Conadep and reflects Alfonsín’s political decision to face the process.
Perfil announced the relaunch of the “Diario del Juicio” on the Trial of the Military Juntas of 1985
“What this exhibition does is reflect two moments that are related that strongly marked the political and social history of Argentine society and in particular of the democracy that we commemorate 40 years. Beyond all the debts that exist today “Democracy is the best system we have,” he said. Paula Quattrocchi, Secretary of Institutional Relations, Culture and Communication of the UBA and the main promoter of the exhibition.
The Secretary of Institutional Relations, Culture and Communication of the UBA, Paula Quattrocchi together with Mariana Rom, director of the Rojas Cultural Center.
Furthermore, a color detail was the least known role it had Eudeba, the publishing house of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), in this story. She was chosen by Alfonsín to edit and protect the non-profit rights to the book, which was translated into more than eight languages and has been republished every year since its creation.
“The historical document aroused a lot of interest. It must be taken into account that Alfonsín’s human rights policy was leading in the world. Today the validity of the Never Again has to do with the consensus that was the founding of Argentine democracy and that today acquires a different symbolism”, commented Luis Quevedo, director of Eudeba, also present at the opening of the exhibition.
The director of Eudeba, Luis Quevedo, and Paula Quattrocchi. In the background, the covers of “Nueva Más” in other languages.
The collaboration of Editorial PERFIL
The second part of the exhibition is reserved for a art space audiovisual. In addition to videos with the testimonies of the survivors and relatives of the disappeared, it has the photographic archive of the Trial of the Editorial PERFIL Boards, one of the witnesses of that emblematic process.
The actress Virginia Innocenti was present at the opening of the exhibition.
In this way, for the first time in physical format, covers, notes and more than 100 color photographs that are part of “El Diario del Juicio” are exhibited, a historical legacy made by the best photojournalists of the time that was preserved by the publisher and recently relaunched.
“The exhibition is an archival recapitulation that shows it as it was. It has a narrative. Coming to see it is a painful exercise. Memory is something that must be exercised because otherwise it is lost. I recommend it to those who did not live through that time. So that they realize how a political decision by a government can mark history in a forceful way,” Quattrocchi added.
The exhibition, which could become a traveling exhibition in the future, is displayed in the Art Space and Photo Gallery of the Rojas Cultural Center UBA of the City of Buenos Aires, in Corrientes avenue 2038/2040. it is open Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. y admission is free.
Context
Exactly 40 years ago, on December 10, 1983, the most extensive process of democratic recovery in the history of our country began in Argentina. Even with all its debts, never before, since September 6, 1930 and after six coups d’état, our country had consolidated a process of institutional continuity of these characteristics like the one that an entire determined society began to travel together since 1983.
In that context, just five days after taking office, President Raúl Alfonsín signed the decree that created the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons –CONADEP–. After intense and heartbreaking work, the following year, Ernesto Sábato – as president of the Commission – delivered to Alfonsín the report that would be publicly known as Never Again.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, highlighted the fight for Human Rights
The book would be immediately published by EUDEBA, the publishing house of the University of Buenos Aires. It is, as we know today, not only one of the most important documents about what happened but also one of the founding pillars on which our modern democracy was built.
A year later, on July 14, 1985, the Trial of the Military Juntas began, which would condemn those mainly responsible for the repression and the disappearance of people. If State terrorism, in the words of Ernesto Sábato, concentrated a series of calamities that made us tragically famous in the civilized world, the Trial of the Juntas was also an unprecedented event for the time: never before in history, a civil power had tried and condemned a military power for crimes against humanity.
The closing of the prologue of the book Never Again inaugurates the tour of the exhibition.
These events are unanimous and singular events, which remind us of the meaning of life in democracy as an inalienable value that Argentine society has made its own in an inalienable way and forever.
“At the Rojas Cultural Center we are pleased to be part of this recovery, an exercise in memory that makes us revisit a difficult past, but, above all, it reminds us of the peaceful way in which a determined society dared like never before in its history, to look their own terror in the eyes to say, all together, NEVER AGAIN,” the organizers noted.
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