Full Description
This book documents the project
Radio Carabuco of the Bolivian artist Andrés Pereira Paz, which he
created during his residency at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin. A
podcast (www.radiocarabuco.com) developed in collaboration with
international artists, researchers, and activists forms the centerpiece
of the project.
Pereira Paz's critical reflections were inspired
by José López de los Ríos's painting of a vision of hell, commissioned
by the Catholic Church during the colonial era. Created in the Andes
town of Carabuco in 1664, the work is still on display at the local
church. Like many paintings from that period, the Christian motif was
brought to Latin America by the Spanish colonial rulers to convert the
indigenous population from paganism to Christianity and to peddle
propaganda for Catholicism's message of salvation.
The episodes of
Pereira Paz's podcast investigate the methods and consequences of
religious and cultural colonialism and scrutinise various political and
societal perspectives, in particular with regard to his native country
of Bolivia. The rejection and suppression of everything that is
perceived as 'other' is a key theme of his work, which also addresses
the question of whether the traditional Western idea of 'hell' has
potentially become a symbolic place of active resistance against
propaganda, censorship, and discrimination that should be defended as
effectively as possible.
