How to talk about pain, what codes and language can we use?

In partnership with Fragmentos, Espacio de arte y memoria, and the researcher and documentary maker Anne Huffschmid from the Latin American Institute at Freie Universität Berlin, CAPAZ will hold a discussion event entitled “Landscapes of extermination and forensic resistances – audio-visual journeys” on December 6.

The event will include discussions on the documentaries “Persistence” (2019, 54′) and “Sensitive Data” (2020, 16′), both made by Huffschmid.

Also participating in the discussion will be Laura Quintana, from the Department of Philosophy at Universidad de los Andes and Juan Pablo Aranguren, from the Department of Psychology at the same university. CAPAZ Academic Director Prof. Dr. Stefan Peters will moderate the event.

Huffschimd’s work has revolved around the disappearance of bodies, and is based on the idea that bodies never actually disappear. Those that were kidnapped, buried, or fragmented are also sought, recovered, and sometimes even reconstructed. It is only in this way that bodies are able to be rendered dead and their stories vindicated.

“Persistence” (2019) proposes an audiovisual journey through Mexican landscapes, overflowing with graves and fragments, and with relatives of the victims turned into forensic experts. “Sensitive Data” (2020), on the other hand, focuses on disappearance from the perspective of contemporary Mexico, where Huffschmid delves deep to identify the patterns that shape it. The documentary maker asks her audience how to talk about pain and what codes or language to use when doing so.

Based on these narratives, arising from Anne Huffschmid’s audio-visual research in Mexico and other countries, the conversation prompts a joint reflection on the landscapes in which bodies are searched for, the resistance of relatives and forensic experts in the face of forced disappearance, and the challenge of naming and narrating what seems unnamable.

The event will be held on Monday, December 6, at 4:00 p.m. at Fragmentos (carrera 7 # 6b-30)

* Limited capacity.

* Please make sure you bring your COVID-19 vaccination card.