Patocoop: comité del decenio

Como conmemoración de los diez años del asesinato del abogado, periodista y humorista colombiano Jaime Eduardo Garzón Forero, se establece el COMITÉ DEL DECENIO a mediados del año 2009. El comité, conformado por Álvaro Herrera y el grupo 0,29, piensa la necesidad de ubicar un lugar para la memoria dentro de la sociedad colombiana que, en razón a un trasfondo histórico y sociocultural, tiende al olvido y en muchas ocasiones a un silencio ensordecedor.

Para el día 13 de Agosto del 2009, fecha en que se cumplían diez años de la muerte de Jaime Garzón, el COMITÉ DEL DECENIO había puesto en marcha lo siguiente:

1. NOTICIAS DECENARIAS. Trabajo desde la web.

2.CAMPAÑA DE EXPECTATIVA. "el pato...volverá".

Una semana antes de la fecha de conmemoración se pegaron una serie de carteles donde se mostraba la figura de un pato dibujado junto a la palabra “volverá..”. Dichos carteles se fijaron en los sitios que Garzón transito durante la mañana del 13 de Agosto, desde su barrio de residencia (La Macarena) hasta el lugar de su muerte (barrio Quinta Paredes). La figura del pato correspondía con el logo de “QUACK!..el noticero”, programa que tuvo Garzón a mediados de los noventas

3. PATOCOOP. proyecto para el decenio

As a commemoration act for journalist and comedian JAIME GARZON, murdered on the 13th of august, 1999, Group 0,29 and Álvaro Herrera planned a project called PATOCOOP-THE DECENNIAL COMITEE. it consisted of a set of actions performed having in mind two contexts: the events related to Garzon's assassination, and the celebrations and commemorations planed by private media networks and public institutions for the bicentennial of colombian independence.

¿What deserves to be celebrated? This question was the framework for this and a set of activities that aim to offer an alternative reading of the notions of cultural identity, legacy, celebration and independence, depicted in the particular forms of festivities and celebrations planned by governmental institutions.

The project was divided into three phases, to take place both on the internet and in different public spaces.

1. DECENNIAL NEWS. The countdown

Beginning the day of the declaration of colombian independence, July 20th, a virtual space was opened for compiling different news regarding the murder of Jaime Garzón, as a countdown beginning in 1999 and ending the very day of the 10th anniversary of his death. This space, called “Decennial news” mirrored the visual identity and methods of a project called Bicentennial news, organized by the cultural office from National Bank. In this case, the countdown began in an arbitrary point in the 17th century and ended on Colombian independence day. 

Each day, the blog was fed with new developments from the murder investigation, and this info also was distributed in a fanzine, as part of a plan of redundant communications that aimed to expand the reach of the project to common citizens, both by redundancy and by taking advantage of the ongoing media campaigns of celebrations.

2.EXPECTATION CAMPAIGN “...and the duck will be back”[1].

August 7 – August 13. 2009

An expectation campaign was held in local neighborhoods in Bogota, particularly minding the route that Garzon followed everyday to get from his apartment at La Macarena in downtown Bogota, to his workplace at a local radio station located in the district of Quinta Paredes. This campaign consisted of hundreds of posters spread trough the different neighborhoods, containing the distinctive "duck" form Garzon's QUACK TV show, and the phrase "it will be back". The campaign extended for a week, ending in the 10th anniversary of the death of the journalist, activist, lawyer, comedian and political analyst.

3. PATOCOOP. A Project for the decennial (video shown above)

Having announced the coming of the duck, in the August 13 morning, a duck went out in order to inform the citizens and to make a remark about what was happening at these hours, ten years before. A car was dressed to look like a duck, the same that characterized “QUACK! el noticero” and another six characters, “journalists” uniformed for the occasion, with their reporter badges, cameramen and photographers whit their equipment (cardboard cameras hiding real cameras inside), went out the car at the same time that Garzon, a decade before was leaving his home from his automobile to the Radio Net station where he worked. Loudspeakers were previously installed in the car for the occasion, from there where heard the character voices that one day were represented by the comedian, and them were rotated with the song “Canela” as well, a composition sang by Garzon a while before his assassination in a TV program where he was interviewee, in that moment Jaime intoned “I want to die in a singular way…I want a carnival farewell”[2].

The group also distributed a DVD compilation of Garzon's TV interventions, as an alternative to a DVD released by a local TV channel, that compiled the trivial parts of his performance. The alternative DVD provided a version which depicted Garzon's most insightful criticism and most interesting performances (including a performance filmed in mid-90s, where he represented a conservative old man celebrating the rise of Alvaro Uribe as a sort of president-dictator). The idea was to prevent to some extent the trivialization of Garzon's work and political analysis.