Corner

Juan Downey was invited by the curator Geno Rodríguez to take part in a group exhibition centered on socio-political issues, along with the artist Dennis Adams, Terry Berkowitz, Chris Bratton, Luis Camnitzer, Leon Golub, Alfredo Jaar, Jerry Kearns, Margia Kramer, Antoni Muntadas, Tim Rollins, Martha Rosler, Erika Rothenberg, Carole Schneeman, Nancy Spero and Francesc Torres, among others, who were asked to create works specially for the show.

The catalogue included essays by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman, together with an  introduction by Geno Rodríguez, where he observed “Disinformation is a technique used by the printed and electronic media in order to create national opinion and consent. It is a technique of half-truths, bias editorialism and deletion pertinent information. It pretends to be objective and fair. Most importantly, it place on people’s belief in a ‘Free Press’. Propaganda, On the other hand, is government sponsored ideology which is forced on a people for the of  ‘education and their own good’ (as perceived by the State). Those living in totalitarian (authoritarian) state like El Salvador, South Korea, China and Russia know that the State forced specific information on them.  Unfortunately those of us living in ‘free Western democracies’ are often under the misguided assumption that we get ‘all the news that’s fit to print’. the truth is that both disinformation and propaganda serve the same purpose: control of a population by feeding it approved information”.

For this exhibition Downey chose a corner, where he placed several press cuttings from two different, and opposed, media –on the one hand the Marxist periodical Gramma Weekly Review Publisher in English in Havana, and on the other the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio, published in Spanish and favorably inclined towards the Pinochet régime. The clippings, dated between the years 1983 and 1985, referred to contemporary political events in Chile. In this way, headlines such as “Chile: An Imprisoned Nation”, “Pinochet Steps up Repression and Received More U.S. Economic Aid” or “Praise for State of Sedge” marked a strong contrast with others such as “En el Exterior se Miente de una Forma Grosera” (Gross Lies Pronounced Abroad), “Renovado el Solemne Juramento a la Bandera” (Solemn Oath to the Flag Renewed) or “Presidente Pinochet Reafirmo Compromiso con la Democracia” (President Pinochet Reaffirms Commitment to Democracy) are a clear example of how concrete political interest receive careful attention and are presented in a positive way, while other political and social issues that are critical of the government are not granted much coverage. Consciously manipulated though the editorial line, the suppression of certain objective content are filled with key words or phrases designed to disturb or deform the alleged ‘information’.

The work was exhibited at the following exhibitions:

1985 – Disinformation The Manufacture of Consent, Alternitive Museum, NY.

1997-98 – Juan Downey: con energía mas alla de estos muros, IVAM-Centre Del  Carme, Valencia  España.

2010 – Juan Downey el ojo pensante, Fundación Telefónica Santiago de Chile.

2011 – Juan Downey: The Invisible Arquitect, List Gallery, MIT. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA., ASU Arizona State University Museum. AZ –

2012 – Juan Downey: The Invisible Architect, Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, New York NY

2013 – Juan Downey: Una Utopía de la comunucación, Museo Rufino Tamayo, México DF, México