Valparaiso Post-Liberal is an installation that responds to the dysfunctional management of Valparaiso’s port heritage. It was exhibited as part of the XX Chilean Architecture and Urbanism Biennale in Valparaiso in October 2017.
The installation presented 272 ‘political postcards’, giving shape to a new political and institutional subjectivity. A series of measures organised into 16 categories of public policy created an alternative social contract and a new city brand. During the exhibition, the proposals were submitted to public scrutiny, inviting visitors to select the desired policies. Ultimately, the project imagines a parallel state that celebrates the bohemian character of Valparaiso's port.
Situated within the field of critical spatial practice, the work turns the audience into performers. The sum of visual, tactile, auditory and textual conditions of the work created a living diorama. The installation operates as a 1:1 scale architectural model that stages, performs and debates the effects of late capitalism practices in urban environments.
The article, Valparaíso Post-Liberal: 272 postales políticas, is a close reading of this project and was published as part of the peer-review journal ARQ 97: Valor/ValueI 2017. (ARQ, núm. 97, december, 2017, pp. 112-119)
