First face of mural about volcanoes is already in display

Thursday, 04 de May

The artwork is part of Santiago’s Subway Service (Metro Santiago) strategy to enrich the community areas where the new stations of Line 3 are being constructed.

“Its three walls that will show the essence of the geological processes that have been part of the evolution of The Andes mountain range from its beginnings” said Pamela Pérez and Gerd Sielfeld, PhD candidates from CEGA who advise the work that is partly available now over the walls that surround the ventilation duct of the future “Chile-España” subway station, which is located on the corner of streets Irarrázaval and Chile España, in Ñuñoa county.

Both geologists have been working since the beginning of this year with the artists from the street art collective “Brigada Negotrópica”, to shape the content and visuals of this scientific mural that will be in exhibition until 2018.

“As researchers we wanted to make vocabulary less complex to address the fundamentals topics of geological processes. The idea is to represent the basic questions about our mountain range”, says the geologist of the Universidad Católica de Chile, Pamela Pérez.

To achieve this, the work was focused on a sketch that emerged from meetings that reviewed main geological concepts, which were enriched with other data, drawings and schemes developed by the researchers with the artists. About this process, the designer and visual artist of the “Brigada Negotrópica” Telly Gacitúa, emphasizes: “In the final sketch that we did, we included all the material that the geologists gave us. It is a scale design that has text, drawing and hyper realistic images of what goes under and over the surface of the Earth”.

The muralist adds that they were also interested in raising awareness among the people who walk through the area: “We are looking to create awareness not only of these powers of the Earth, but also of the city where we live. People who pass by also thank us because they finally see something harmonious in that place, something nice”.

For the geologist Gerd Sielfeld, the initiative is a contribution to public appreciation of science: “It has been gratifying to share with artists in order to generate a good outreach product based on the subjects we study,” says Sielfeld, who adds to this experience of outreach in the mural, his work in the documentary “La Fuerza de la Tierra” (https://vimeo.com/album/ 205849

Although a few weeks ago the project suffered the theft of all the painting materials, the works will reactivate during May to soon make the official release to the community. Once finished, CEGA will seek to create networks with schools in the area, with the aim of transforming the mural into a large outdoor information board.