Architecture, Dictatorship and Cultural Policies. The Biennials of the 70s and the Tension of Chilean Architecture between Nationalism and Internationalization

Abstract

After September 11, 1973, the installation of the Chilean military regime tussled over continuing with a state-focused model based on nationalism or establishing the neoliberal project, with its mandatory demands of international openness. This swing violently deployed an authoritarian social, political, economic, and cultural modernization plan that did not leave architecture behind, as evidenced by the political persecution, the intervention of universities, the modification of state-led urban design agencies, the weakening of the Association of Architects, and the modeling a new professional profile adjusted to the market requirements. This debate also involved the regime’s cultural policy, allowing and promoting events such as Architecture Biennials held by the end of the 70s at the National Museum of Fine Arts. In spite of the initial efforts to keep these events distant and alien to the political debate –claiming disciplinary autonomy– they were closely related to the ups and downs exposed by the cultural policy of the end of the decade, clearly revealing their contradicting –and often disoriented– approaches. This inaugurated the ongoing tension between nationalism and internationalism as a key to understand architecture and architectural culture in Chile during the 80s and 90s.