Secret / Sensitive Eyes Only – Voluspa jarpa

12 January – 20 February 2013
Galerie mor.charpentier, Paris

The first solo exhibition at galerie mor charpentier of Chilean artist, Voluspa Jarpa, examines the cultural notion of trauma and memory.

« The one thing of which we can be certain, is the existence ofvaried and mythological interpretations of recent history. »
-Voluspa Jarpa, 2012

Voluspa Jarpa’s study of the dynamic of the encounter between informative documents related to macro-historical events and the individual shock perpetuated by them, something that Jarpa labels as ‘History-Hysteria,’ is brought to life in her most recent adaptation of No-History Library.

A portion of the books used in the conceptualization of this work is formed from a critical collection of the 70,000 archives CIA declassified files from 1969-1991 concerning US public policy in the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay. Jarpa’s research involves the review and subsequent reclassification of these files according to their evident material components. The tension between the revealed text and the information concealed in black is highlighted through the organization of the piece, the graphic element of which controversially allows the archive to be released to the public.

The edited books generated from the archives intentionally include the blacked out textual information, and through their scale add proportion to the work, avoiding a hegemonic relationship between the written and visual narratives. The fragmented texts and lack of a chronological order create a chaotic narrative, revealing the subversive trauma and effects of the events revealed in the text. The presentation acknowledges a period of negotiation regarding interventions on the freedom of speech and access to information, proposing a metaphor for these historical accounts.

The other portion of the books included in the installation consists of the editing of the handwritten answers that various individuals, in different places and languages, have written in subjective responses to the material. The answers are unique and disparate, drawing attention to the highly interpretive nature of historiography and reveal the correlation between the individual understanding of a history and the accessibility of information.

No History LIbrary was shown at Santiago de Chile and the Kunstmuseum Bern in 2011and was also exhibited at the last Biennale of Istanbul.

The work Unclassified, Secret and Confidential: Outgoing Message consists of series of laser cut acrylic modules of the files declassified by the CIA on US intelligence activities in Southern American countries. These censored and unachieved pieces act as a metaphor of the deeply wounded collective memory of Chile.

Practical Info
12 January 2013 – 20 February 2013
galerie mor.charpentier
8 rue Saint-Claude Paris 3ème / Mº Saint-Sébastien Froissart
T +(33) 01 44 54 01 58
Reception: Saturday, 3 November, 6-9PM.
Galerie hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11AM-7PM.
contact@mor-charpentier.com – www.mor-charpentier.com