The Endless Coup, an exhibition organized by New Latin Wave which opens Tuesday, September 5th and will be on view through September 30th at NADA East Broadway, seeks to create a conversation among artists and audiences about the impact of the Chilean coup d’état that began on September 11, 1973 and continues through the post dictatorship period, from 1990 all the way to the present.
Its reverberations can be felt throughout the Americas, and no less here in the United States, whose support for Augusto Pinochet played a crucial role in the preparation for the coup, the coup itself, and the consolidation of the regime afterwards. Although a massive social movement sparked in October 2019 produced the promise of a new constitution, when the final document was presented for a vote in September 2022, it failed. This means that Chile is still governed today under the constitution imposed by Pinochet’s military regime. The dictatorship may have ended, but the coup is ongoing.
Art, cinema, design, and music played a crucial role in documenting and responding to the human rights abuses and political repression that took place during the dictatorship and continue to serve as a vehicle for political activism, social engagement and exchange of ideas. The Endless Coup is a collective show featuring 21 artists of Chilean background based in New York, Chile and abroad, and invites the audience to join in this dialogue.