ISSA Chile: 6th Nuestros Parques International Sculpture Symposium

The 6th Nuestros Parques International Sculpture Symposium at Santiago officially concluded on Oct 21. For the duration of two weeks, the symposium was held in the sculpture park in downtown Santiago, the capital of Chile. In the second week of the symposium, mass protests against inequality broke off in the streets of Santiago. Fortunately, the symposium was not inflicted.

After a strict selection process, there were a total of eight sculptors invited to participate in the event. The scale, prestige and influence of the symposium were unprecedented in Latin America.

The Cultural Foundation of Providencia was the host of the symposium. Evelyn Matthei, Mayor of Providencia said, “Not only do we encourage forms of artistic expression that reflect our community, we also try very hard to make space for local artists. There were forty-two countries from five continents represented in the application process. It’s one of most important Symposiums in the history of Latin America.”

The sponsor of this symposium is Grupo Nuestros Parques, a company specialized in cemetery parks. Sculpture has historically been a part of the cemetery tradition. Through sculpture symposiums, cemetery parks in Santiago has collected 69 pieces of sculpture.