The Museification of Military Coup and the Years of Dictatorship in Chile. the Construction of Post-Conflict Visual Imaginations at the Memory and Human Rights Museum of Santiago

Through the example of the Memory and Human Rights Museum of Santiago (MMHR), this paper analyses the display of different images and objects associated with the military coup (September 11, 1973) and the years of dictatorship in Chile (1973-1989). Inaugurated in 2010 under the government of Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010), the MMHR constitutes a major architectural and curatorial project created in order to “never forget” the traumatic past of the country. Since the last five years, different forms of images of this past have been publicly reproduced and exposed, especially by television.This text explores the hypothesis that the emergence of the Memory and Human Rights Museum constitutes a powerful signal of re-definition of national memory that seems to “leave behind” all social conflicts and political divisions in Chilean society. Are the visual strategies of collective remembrance contributing to a process of consensus?  What is the relationship between the museification of images and the redefinition of the national memory? These questions are explored by following the MMHR visitors in their interaction with architecture as well as by the analysis of the formation of collections and the display of museum images.