Arquitectura y sociedad en Lima postraumática : mecanismos del miedo, el olvido y el recuerdo 2000-2014

Abstract

Se trata de un estudio que tomando como referencia las conclusiones elaboradas por la Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación (CVR) indaga sobre el rol de la arquitectura en el logro de la reconciliación nacional, es decir, la posibilidad de que el Perú encuentre la cohesión en aquellos puntos que le permitan considerarse una nación en medio de su diversidad. El período de violencia política vivida entre 1980 y el 2000 se entiende simultáneamente como el intento de fundar un nuevo estado y al mismo tiempo como la repetición del acto violento fundacional que la independencia no llegó a constituir. Este período resulta traumático en la medida que generó miedos, odio, desconfianza, olvidos y recuerdos deformados por la sensación de inseguridad física y emocional. El período posterior iniciado el año 2000 con el regreso de la democracia, se caracteriza por una sociedad polarizada y con una desconfianza generalizada. Cumple las características de los estados de stress postraumáticos que revive constantemente el proceso de violencia vivido al mismo tiempo que revive los traumas ancestrales producidos desde la conquista española en adelante. La arquitectura que se analiza se refiere por lo tanto a aquellos programas vinculados al conflicto armado interno tanto como a aquellos que se relacionan a la idea de nación y la historia como uno de sus suportes imaginario a través del tiempo, haciéndolo mediante el análisis de tres categorías: el recuerdo, el olvido y el miedo. Si bien olvido y recuerdo son los principales componentes de la memoria, este trabajo los trata de manera separada para un entendimiento y análisis más profundo y minucioso. El recuerdo se aborda desde su dimensión imaginaria y perteneciente a la subjetividad, los ejemplos que se analizan demuestran su manejo arbitrario, la manipulación a la que está sujeta y su pertenencia algún grupo social mayor o menor. La revisión de las propuestas finalistas del concurso del Lugar de la Memoria permite analizar la manera como la subjetividad opera sobre el recuerdo cuando se producen vacíos cognitivos de la realidad. La arquitectura así propuesta se muestra plagada de todos los prejuicios y construcciones fantasmáticas que provienen de los múltiples momentos traumáticos que van desde la conquista hasta el conflicto armado interno. Lo imaginario, lo simbólico y lo real resultan herramientas conceptuales claves para un análisis crítico del pensamiento, herramientas y proyectos arquitectónicos. El análisis del olvido como estrategia en la construcción del espacio público y los museos nacionales, permite evidenciar roles pocas veces señalados y abordados por la arquitectura. Si se entiende la ciudad como una escritura, en el caso de Lima se trata de una escritura con borrones y enmendaduras de aquellos momentos del pasado que se prefieren olvidar por el dolor que ocasionan, pero también porque recordarlos implica una dura interpelación al proceder ciudadano de los arquitectos. El último tema que trata la tesis es el del miedo, usando para ello el fenómeno del balneario de Asia. Asumirlo como el nomos de la modernidad peruana permite develar su carácter siniestro como efecto del período de violencia y su análisis pone en evidencia la idiosincrasia que encierra uno de los espacios aspiracionales más importantes de la sociedad limeña y especialmente de sus arquitectos.

This is a study that, based on the conclusions drawn by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR), explores the role of architecture in achieving national reconciliation, that is, the possibility of Peru finding cohesion in those aspects that allow it to consider itself as a nation in the middle of its diversity. The period of political violence experienced between 1980 and 2000 is simultaneously understood as an attempt to found a new state and at the same time as the repetition of the foundational act of violence that the independence did not manage to constitute. This period is traumatic to the extent that it generated fears, hatred, distrust, forgetfulness and memories deformed by the feeling of physical and emotional insecurity. The subsequent period, which began in 2000 with the return of democracy, is characterized by a polarized society and widespread distrust. It complies with the characteristics of post-traumatic stress states that constantly revive the violence experienced while reviving the ancestral traumas produced from the Spanish conquest onwards. The architecture that is analyzed therefore refers to those programs linked to the internal armed conflict as well as those that relate to the idea of nation and history as one of their imaginary supports through time, doing so through the analysis of three categories: memory, forgetfulness and fear. Although forgetting and remembering are the main components of memory, this work treats them separately for a deeper and more thorough understanding and analysis. The memory is approached from its imaginary dimension and this is a study that, based on the conclusions drawn by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR), explores the role of architecture in achieving national reconciliation, that is, the possibility of Peru finding cohesion in those aspects that allow it to consider itself as a nation in the middle of its diversity. The period of political violence experienced between 1980 and 2000 is simultaneously understood as an attempt to found a new state and at the same time as the repetition of the foundational act of violence that the independence did not manage to constitute. This period is traumatic to the extent that it generated fears, hatred, distrust, forgetfulness and memories deformed by the feeling of physical and emotional insecurity. The subsequent period, which began in 2000 with the return of democracy, is characterized by a polarized society and widespread distrust. It complies with the characteristics of post-traumatic stress states that constantly revive the violence experienced while reviving the ancestral traumas produced from the Spanish conquest onwards. The architecture that is analyzed therefore refers to those programs linked to the internal armed conflict as well as those that relate to the idea of nation and history as one of their imaginary supports through time, doing so through the analysis of three categories: memory, forgetfulness and fear. Although forgetting and remembering are the main components of memory, this work treats them separately for a deeper and more thorough understanding and analysis. The memory is approached from its imaginary dimension and pertaining to subjectivity, the examples that are analyzed demonstrate its arbitrary handling, the manipulation to which it is subject and its belonging to a larger or smaller social group. The review of the final proposals of the contest of the Place of Memory allows us to analyze the way in which subjectivity operates on the memory when there are cognitive gaps in the reality. The architecture thus proposed is riddled with all the prejudices and fantasmatic constructions that come from the multiple traumatic moments that the country went through from the conquest to the internal armed conflict. The imaginary, the symbolic and the real are the key conceptual tools for a critical analysis of the thought, the tools and the architectural projects. The analysis of the oblivion as a strategy in the construction of public space and national museums, allows to evidence roles rarely mentioned and addressed by architecture. If the city is understood as writing, in the case of Lima it is a writing with erasures and amendments of those moments of the past that you prefer to forget because of the pain they cause, but also because remembering them implies a harsh interpellation of the citizen action of the architects. The last topic that the thesis deals with is that of fear, using the phenomenon of the beach community Asia. Assuming it as the nomos of the Peruvian modernity reveals its sinister character reflecting the period of violence and its analysis highlights the idiosyncrasy which represents one of the most important spaces of the aspirations of Lima’s society and especially of its architects.