Chile's Subversive Art: Batman, Bronson, and a Pig in Uniform

María Berríos's essay for Afterall Journal 21 examines five obscure, ironic art actions in Chile during the 1970s and 1980s that engaged political aesthetics through neo-Dadaist humour and leftist critique. These include Enrique Lihn's 1973 novel 'Batman en Chile', which parodies US cultural imperialism by sending Batman to Salvador Allende's Chile; the UNCTAD III building (1971-1972), a rushed modernist complex later taken over by Pinochet's junta; Carlos Flores's documentary 'Identicamente Igual' (1984) about Fenelón Guajardo, a Charles Bronson lookalike; Lihn's 1984 Tarzan-themed happening honouring Johnny Weissmüller; and 'Operación Chancho', where a piglet dressed as Pinochet was released during a 1980 plebiscite protest. These 'provisional failures' resist traditional political representation, embracing collective action, anonymity, and humour as critique. The essay highlights how these acts, often undocumented or rumoured, form a discontinuous lineage of subversive creativity under dictatorship.