Border Flashes

A fire-and-sound performance action on the beach, in memory of the indigenous people killed by the advance of Western, Christian civilization.

In the second half of the 19th century, the Argentine pampas and Patagonia were the stage of a campaign of persecution and extermination against their original inhabitants, planned by the Argentine state to secure national sovereignty and promote European immigration. To that end, indigenous resistance had to be eliminated, seen as an obstacle to economic and social progress. Indigenous peoples were persecuted, displaced, killed, or captured. Many were subjected to forced labor or sent to other regions of the country, losing their ancestral territories in the process.

Some surely managed to escape north and hide in the hills of Córdoba; others fled west to take refuge in the Andes; others went south and were lost at the ends of Patagonia. But to the east there was no possible escape — they were cornered between the advancing army and the coastline of the Argentine sea, the Atlantic Ocean.

That coastline became a frontier between life and death, in deep contradiction with what that same coast means for my generation today: beach, sun, fun, nature, peace, life, joy.

“Border Flashes” proposes to honor those victims by lighting a series of fires aligned along the beach, in front of which different wind instruments are played and flags are waved, following instructions given in advance. Total duration: one hour.

Premiere: December 19, 2023, on the cliff beaches south of Mar del Plata, Argentina.

Credits

• Idea and composition: Mariano Losi
• General production: Martín Virgili and Pablo Engel
• Photo and video: Matías Tazza

Participating musicians and fire-makers: Pablo Jivotovschii, Martín Virgili, Camila Juárez, Manuel Jivotovschii, Lucía Droch, Manuel Belardi, Mariano Losi, Analía Salinas, Fernanda Siri, Pablo Engel, César Zafarón, Guillermo de Diego, Leonardo Salvini, Leila Ale Wagner, José Telles, Yamila Telles.