Chilean ephemeral exhibition Al aire, libre united over 70 artists during pandemic lockdown

The ephemeral exhibition Al aire, libre took place across Chile from May 16 to 17, stretching from the Atacama Desert's Copiapó region to Coyhaique in Patagonia. Brazilian curator Tiago de Abreu Pinto, stranded in Santiago due to border closures, conceived the project to combat feelings of disconnection during quarantine. He invited over 70 visual artists, including National Plastic Arts Prize 2017 winner Paz Errázuriz and National Literature Prize 2000 recipient Raúl Zurita, to create works from their places of confinement. The project was inspired by a conversation with Chilean artist Voluspa Jarpa and the work of Berlin curator Ovul O Dormusuglu. Most pieces were produced in isolation after artists were prompted with questions about anonymity and expression during the pandemic. National collectives like Mil M2 involved residents of the Torres de Tajamar to ask questions from their windows, while artists Ángela Cura, Felipe Santander, and Milena Moena projected a film for their neighbors about their own community. De Abreu Pinto emphasized the project was a physical exhibition first, with the online component serving as a concentration of records made by each artist. He described the overwhelming participant response as an exemplary exercise for creating strategies in times of crisis and quarantine, extending beyond a mere exhibition to become a social and communal solidarity process.