Post-dictatorship Re-editions in South America: Two Case Studies from Chile and Uruguay (1970s / 2010s-2020s)

Abstract

As authoritarian regimes became widespread in Latin America in the 1970s, a number of experimental artists and poets found in the Mail Art network a way to circumvent censorship, allowing them to continue to make their voices heard beyond the borders of their respective countries. This extraterritorial network allowed them to circulate their small publications, pamphlets, postcards and little collective magazines far and wide. Several of these publications have recently been reissued: in recent years Naranja Publicaciones in Chile has republished several of Guillermo Deisler’s works from the 1970s; while in Montevideo, Microutopía reissued Instrumentos/74, a booklet by Clemente Padín, in 2019. Why and how should these publications, conceived several decades ago in a particular political context, be reedited today? Based on two case studies, this article seeks to outline possible ways of understanding this phenomenon and analysing the issues at stake, between preserving a cultural heritage and confronting or engaging with certain current artistic and political developments.