Prospectiva cultural: cómo el pasado habita los futuros

Key facts

• The essay proposes the term 'prospectiva cultural' as a deliberate exercise to imagine possible futures of memory institutions.
• Marianne Hirsch's concept of postmemory is used to argue that the past inhabits futures.
• The Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos in Chile faces the eventual death of the last direct witness of the dictatorship.
• In March 2026, London 38, Villa Grimaldi, and José Domingo Cañas reported lack of funding for salaries and activities.
• The Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende temporarily closed due to delayed transfers.
• The Museo de Memoria de Colombia, born from the 2011 Victims' Law, has not yet opened after fifteen years.
• Construction of the Museo de Memoria de Colombia was paralyzed for three years due to a dispute with the builder, resumed with contracts signed in 2025, with partial opening projected for late 2026.
• In April 2026, the CNMH launched a 'ruta de apropiación social territorial' for the museum scripts in Montes de María, Barrancabermeja, Cali, and Medellín.
• The exhibition 'Voces para transformar a Colombia' was under judicial precautionary measures due to negationist direction.
• The change of government in August 2026 could threaten the co-created scripts of the Colombian museum.
• The Museo Sitio de Memoria ESMA was inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage in 2023.
• The 2026 Argentine budget includes no funds for the ESMA museum, judicial processes for crimes against humanity, or the Archivo Nacional de la Memoria.