Torpedos presents a series of works published in the book of the same name by poet, academic, and anthropologist Yanko González. These visual exercises are based on various ethnographic logs kept by the author during his formative and administrative experiences in higher education institutions, documenting the classroom, the items that bring these spaces together, and the temporary solutions that arise at exam time.
Using as a metaphor the continent and the type of content of the abbreviated, miniaturized, and hidden notes taken by students (called “torpedos” in Chile and “accordions,” “machetes,” “cheat sheets,” among many other names, in other countries), the book and exhibition Torpedos question the obligation to acquire the cultural keys that open and solve any biographical mission through what is considered inexcusable and essential to learn and memorize in order to be “someone in life.” Along with this, González not only addresses the simulation of learning through these miniature frauds, but also that of formal teaching through its own rhetorical inconsistencies, formulas of deviation, and, above all, of madness. But there is more. In these digital and virtual times, the recovery of textual materialities and unusual analog supports to safeguard them speaks to us of a past inscribed in the present, that is, of persistent writing practices that refuse to abandon us and that from time to time can return, as in this case, to question and erode our formulas for molding and decreeing what is believed to be legitimate to transmit in our society and culture.
