The exhibition “León Ferrari – Reproducing Them Infinitely” at the neurotitan gallery in Berlin presented key works by the Argentinian conceptual artist as well as lesser-known works not yet shown in Germany, and invited visitors to interact with a diverse accompanying program. As part of the exhibition, kollektiv orangotango conducted mapping workshops at Haus Schwarzeberg in September 2021. Impulses and graphic elements from Ferrari’s work, especially from his heliografías, were taken up. In these prints, which are particularly influenced by his time in exile in São Paulo, León used Letraset elements-which were used in architectural plans to depict people, plants, or vehicles-to express an often oppressive perception of life in urban spaces.
“Enforced disappearance” is the term used to describe the state-terrorist, arbitrary detention or abduction of people by government officials or by organized groups or private individuals acting on behalf of or with the acquiescence of the government. People are forcefully made to disappear like this all over the world on a daily basis. Their relatives and activists search, sometimes for decades, for these people or at least for certainty about their situation. León Ferrari lost a son through forced disappearance in 1977, after which the Ferrari family went into exile in São Paulo.
In collaboration with Sol Undurraga and the the Coalition Against Disappearances, we designed a mural at the backyard of Haus Schwarzenberg for the International Day Against Enforced Disappearances in 2021. The mural shows portraits and names of forcibly disappeared persons, which were sent to the artists by human rights organizations and partly by the relatives of the disappeared.
