Parque de las Esculturas - Nature and Culture for Everyone

Since ancient times, man has inserted sculptures in parks and green areas, specially if these are close to water sources, such as fountains, lakes and rivers.

There’s something in natural environments and green areas that seem particularly fitting to home these large size artworks.

But beyond simple aesthetic consideration, the sculptors themselves consider their works to be dead within the confined spaces of museums and galleries, feeling that it’s in open spaces where these come alive and acquire relevance, while in direct contact with the public.

But if sculptures come alive in the outdoors, rivers have a life of their own - although sometimes they may seem meek and insignificant, they may swell and destroy everything at its pass.

Although the main river of Santiago, the Mapocho river, looks apparently calm and inconspicuous during summer, it is not unusual that during winter it may augment its volume violently, reason for which different engineering measures have been taken across generations in order to protect the population from its possible charge.

At the end of the 18th century, the king of Spain, Charles IV, ordered the then Governor of Chile, Ambrosio O’Higgins, the creation of embankments to contain the fearful swells of the river, which caused huge human and material losses.

The project, entrusted to the famed architect JoaquínToesca, was finished in 1805, with a promenade on its top, and became almost immediately the favourite place of the Chilean society of the time for meetings and social encounters.

This memory was what partly inspired the sculpture park that now is located on the north bank of the Mapocho river.

In 1982, after a devastating river swell that flooded, eroded and destroyed a great area of the north-east riverbank and the gardens there, works were commenced to improve the river-bed.

As he strolled by this riverbank in the Providencia municipality, and seeing the works, the famed Chilean sculptor Federico Assler thought that perhaps it was the perfect time and place to create a park dedicated to sculptures.

The idea, which at any other time would have sound irrational and undoable, had an unsuspected ally: only a few months before, the Providencia municipality had created its Cultural Corporation, headed by architect Germán Bannen.

Assler met Bannen, told him about his idea, and both began to plan the project.

“Conjunto Escultórico” by Federico Assler (1989)

A few months later, a municipal decree was passed designing a committee for the creation of an open air museum for sculptures. Among the members of this committee were the distinguished Chilean artists Nemesio Antúnez, Mario Irarrázabal and Nena Ossa, along with Federico Assler and Germán Bannen.

A second ally of this initiative was the Cultural Donations Law, through which the private sector was encouraged to make donations for art and culture, in exchange for fiscal benefits. These would provide the financial funding for the creation of the park and its sculptures.

On September 7th of 1984, a summoning letter was sent to ten renown national sculptors: Sergio Castillo, Marta Colvin, Juan Egenau, Lily Garafulic, Claudio Girola, Carlos Ortúzar, Samuel Román, Raúl Valdivieso, Matías Vial and Mario Irarrázabal.

On December 17th of 1986, the Museo Parque de las Esculturas (Museum Park of Sculptures) was officially inaugurated with the unveiling of the red stone sculpture by Marta Colvin, “Pachamama” (‘Mother Earth’ in Quechua language).

“Percepción” by Lisi Fox (2006)

The concept of placing sculptures in public spaces is nothing new.

However, the creation of a space specially conceived from its start to hold a museum of sculptures (as opposed to a pre-conceived space in which sculptures are added to later as adornment) was innovative in its moment, and made the Parque de las Esculturas the first and only one of its kind in Latin America, keeping this honour up to 2005.   

"Vuelo I” by Lucía Waiser (1990)

In the years following its inauguration, all of the initially summoned artists created and donated different sculptures, which little by little began to populate the green areas of the park, in open dialogue with its environment and the community.

The diversity of the materials used (concrete, steel, wood, iron, stone, bronze, marble, granite, acrylic), and the different sizes, forms and styles of the works in permanent exhibition make this park a true delight for art lovers.

Left to right: “Vigías del parque” by Cecilia Campos (2005), “Oda al Río” by Federico Assler (1989), “Pehuén” by Sandra Santander (2006) and "Yantra-Mandala" by Aura Castro (2005)

The park seemed endangered when, by the mid 1990's work was commenced to construct a new highway along the riverbank, but thanks to correct architectural and engineering choices, the new avenue didn’t cause damages to the original plan of the park, and instead granted it additional space when it was completed in 2005.

Nowadays, the park holds around 40 sculptures of different sizes and materials, located both in the main perimeter of the park and the connecting bridges, created by local and foreign artists, and every year new works are added to this collection.

“Caracola Vitalis” by Alfonsina Moreno

 “Recurso Humano” by Fernanda Cerda

As part of its cultural vocation, many natural species of the park are identified, as a sort of small botanical garden, so that the visiting public may know and learn to distinguish the different types of trees and bushes found in Chile and the city.

Another benefit of this space is that the public may approach the artwork and make it theirs. This is specially important for visually-handicapped public, for in this environment they are allowed to touch the artwork without restrictions. Thus, the park is accessible to everyone, widening the range of public that may enjoy its art.

“Homenaje a Marko Marulic” by Vasko Lipovac (2007)

       
The park holds an exhibition hall for sculptures of medium and small format, designed by Germán Bannen and inaugurated in 1989. This hall is divided in three connecting spaces and is illuminated by both natural and artificial light.

The park also is home to a branch of the network of public libraries of the municipality, also known as ‘Café al Aire Libro’ (Open Book Café), since it has chairs and tables for the visitors to enjoy their reading outdoors.

Its location by the river, nested between a commercial and a residential zone, next to biking trails, only two blocks away from the nearest subway station and other transportation, with three entries and a privileged view to the Andes make this park one of the most accessible and popular of Santiago all year round.

Map (Source: Corporación Cultural de Providencia)

In 2008, the Museo Parque de las Esculturas was admitted in the International Council of Museums in the open air museum category, officialising thus even further its importance at the international level.

Over time, this park has not only become an open museum and a place for strolls and meetings of free public access, but also a cultural hub, holding concerts, the now traditional Providencia International Jazz Festival, the International Sculpture Symposium, as well as cultural and entertainment activities for the entire community: open air yoga and dance therapy classes, painting workshops, cinema nights, and many more.

At the International Sculpture Symposium, the public has the chance 

to witness the creation of sculptures and talk directly with artists from 

all over the world. In the picture: Dalgat Dalgatov, from Russia.

To visit:

Location: Avda. Santa María 2205, Providencia, Santiago. Subway station: Los Leones. (Entrances also by Padre Letelier and Pedro de Valdivia Norte)
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 9am - 7pm
Cost: Free
Dogs are allowed with supervision and owners must clean after their pets. Loud music and parties/gatherings are not allowed without previous permission from the municipality.

To learn more:

This Wikipedia page offers a good historical briefing of the park, with photographs and informational data of most of the sculptures in the permanent collection of the park at this time (in Spanish only):
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parque_de_las_Esculturas

“Erupción” by Sergio Castillo (1988) and 

“Semillas”  by Cristián Salineros Fillat (2005)

Sources: Corporación Cultural de Providencia, Book “Museo Parque de las Esculturas, Chronicle of a Pioneering Initiative” by Manuel Fuentes Wendling and Carmen Retamal Maturana, published by the Corporación Cultural de Providencia, 2008