A metro station on the Line 5 of the Santiago Metro, near the Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts [16]
![In the shadows of a horrifying genocide, which suppressed much of chile's artistic culture, from music to theater to art, for reasons of censorship against anti-military messages and a general sense of controlling civilians' attentions and efforts to staying in line with the military's orders. Thanks to the repressive history of the country, there has now developed a sort of ‘music renaissance,’ as described by this National Public Radio Story, “A pop Music Revolution.” This renaissance includes lots of synthesizer-heavy ‘80s pop acts, seemingly driven from grown children of the Pinochet dictatorship, looking to recapture what was once lost. This seems to be a trend among arts in general in Chile, with Santiago, once the place of brutal military torture and killings of thousands of Chilean civilians, it is now a creative hub of a country making a name for itself in media arts and design across Latin America, and the world. Recently, Santiago-based music acts have been reaching international success with their synthy “disco-rock” sound. [4] Fakuta, a Santiago-based synth music producer is an example of this. She is featured in NPR's story, saying that her passion and inspiration for pursuing music alongside her day job is thanks in part to her experiences as a child in the 1980's, growing up in Pinochet's dictatorship. Commonly, anti-government protests took place in the streets, meaning that police were everywhere. Going out into the street, a person would run the risk of being hit by a stray rubber bullet or water cannon. “Everyone was in their home all the time, so television was a big deal," she said. "The television showed you lots of fantastic programs and movies.” These programs were from North America- bright, optimistic, and far from the tense environment of the dictated streets of Chile. The government surpassed arts and culture because they wanted to make economics everyone’s top priority. They wanted to alter the thoughts of Chileans, to conform, and not challenge authority or bring attention to one’s self. As it turns out, the military's dictatorship, with the intent of controlling, censoring, and condemning art and free speech ended up causing a serge of artistic culture a few decades down the road, because Chilean children, having grown up consuming America's vast landscape of artistic expression, have now grown up to pursue the arts, and become creators themselves.](images/u848-25.png)
