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39. The Applause (El aplauso): Sculpture Dedicated to Disappeared Actors
- University of Massachusetts Press
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69 PALERMO 2 Malabia Aráoz J. Álvarez Arenales Av. Santa Fe Güemes A n a s a g a s t i B e r u t i B o l l i n i B u ln e s Cabello Cerviño French J. M.Gutierrez Juncal L a fi n u r Av. Gral. Las Heras Av. del Libertador R e p . A r a b e S i r i a Pacheco de Melo S a l g u e r o S a l g u e r o B u l n e s Peña R e p . d e l a I n d i a S . L .. R u g g ie r i A v . S a r m i e n t o U g a r t e c h e R . S . O r t í z A v . C n e l. D ía z Est. S. Ortíz Est. Bulnes LÍNEA D 39 LOCATION: FRENCH 3617 TRANSPORTATION: BUSES: 10, 15, 37, 41, 57, 59, 60, 93, 95, 108, 110, 118, 128, 141, 160, 188. SUBWAY STATION: SCALABRINI ORTÍZ (D LINE). Mariana Gabor’s sculpture The Applause (El aplauso) was inaugurated above the entrance to the headquarters of the Antonio Cunill Cabanellas Department of Dramatic Arts to remember the actors disappeared by the last military dictatorship . In 2003 the Student Affairs Secretariat and the office of the Dean of the Department of Dramatic Arts at the National University Institute of the Arts (IUNA, Instituto Universitario Nacional de Artes) installed the sculpture along with plaques bearing the names of seventeen disappeared actors who had been identified through an earlier investigation . The floor of the building ’s foyer displays a text written by the actor Tato Pavlovsky, and one of the walls bears the following words written by the artist herself: “These actors are heading out to speak in the face of the violent imposition of silence . They advance, high above us . They are waiting for eye contact , for answers, for movement . They are waiting for life . ” For Víctor Bruno, an actor, teacher, and Dean of the Institute, “this tribute signifies remembering the past and living the present to the fullest, both of which will help us to better project the future . In this instance, it is irrelevant whether or not one shares the ideas of each and every one of the disappeared . We are talking about state terrorism here .That is why we suggested an artistic performance . This is not going to stand as a requiem, but as a song to celebrate life” (Página/12, June 29, 2003) . All of the illegitimate governments imposed by the Armed Forces repressed cultural expression and censored artistic productions that were oppositional or even simply unconventional . As a result, many academics , intellectuals, artists, and cultural figures were persecuted, murdered, disappeared, imprisoned, or forced into exile . 39 . The Applause (El aplauso): Sculpture Dedicated to Disappeared Actors THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS. 70 OpenTheater (Teatro Abierto) In 1981 over two hundred writers, directors, actors, and theater staff (many of them blacklisted) came together at the Open Theatre (Teatro Abierto), a landmark of cultural resistance to the military dictatorship . Victor Bruno was among them: “The Teatro Abierto experience was initiated by a group of authors . . . including, for example, Osvaldo Dragún, Roberto Cossa, who were joined by a large group of fellow theater artists . The objective was to see how theater could react in the face of dictatorship . The work was all voluntary . People would just start writing in order to act or direct . . . . Each cast included important figures and others who were not so well known . . . . Not everyone was open to the idea, but many people were” [AO .0445] . Teatro Abierto began when a group of writers decided to prove that there was indeed such a thing as Argentine theater by introducing important and relevant works to the public . Some figures within the cultural establishment had called this existence into doubt, and official theaters did not perform any works by Argentine authors . When the director of the Teatro San Martín was asked in 1980 why there were no plays by Argentine authors on the program, he responded, “What authors? There are no Argentine authors . ” The final straw came when the course in Contemporary Argentine Theater was removed from the curriculum of the National School of Dramatic Arts . Still, Teatro Abierto was created not only THE NAMES OF...