Patrick Hamilton

Patrick Hamilton

Hamilton´s work is to thread the reflection on the concepts of labor, inequality, myth and history in the last 50 years of history in Chile; particularly during the post-dictatorship period. It is an aesthetic reflection on the consequences of the "neoliberal revolution" (Tomás Moulian) implemented by Augusto Pinochet and the Chicago boy´s during the 80s and its projection in the social and cultural field from then until now. Rather than refer to state violence, his work alludes to the complex consequences that the economic system has produced in Chile, as well as in many countries around the world. We have seen many examples of this consequences in the last years in the economic concentration, collusion and corruption of the economic system that has harmed the majority of people and in turn a numerous citizen’s movements reclaimed in the streets by their rights. Hamilton is interested in unravelling and decode the myths and assumptions, on which is built the image of Chile unearthing stories repressed by the political, economic and cultural Establishment but have remained and circulate from generation to generation. At this particular point, refer his projects on the "golden miths". In other projects, his concerns range from the study of some phenomena of "development and speculation" in the city, as well as the work with certain historical myths linked to Chile in recent decades. It uses the intervention and manipulation of everyday objects as tools of manual labor, which represent the increasingly precarious world of the working man. Also, he is interested in the analysis and manipulation of elements that have been appearing as a consequence of "economic development" on the urban area of Santiago de Chile. Buildings that represent and are imposed as emblems of economic success, as well as elements of protection that arise throughout the city as a metaphor of the social, economic and cultural division that produced the extreme version of neoliberalism implanted in Chile. To do his work he use various techniques and regardless of format (from small collage, photographs or objects to large installations). He can say that he resort steadily working tools that manipulate and transform in different ways, also he appropriate postcards from Chile, the tourist image of a country that aspires to development, elements from the world of security, arms and design.