Caterina Figueiredo Paiva

The Museum of the Social Revolt (MES) in Chile exemplifies a unique intersection of artivism and storytelling, arising spontaneously in response to the 2019 Social Revolt. Derived from a 4-month fieldwork in this space, this paper explores the museum's decentralized, community-based curatorial model, where the museum serves as the storyteller, weaving collective memories together. By engaging visitors in a multi-sensory experience—through visual art, sound, and tactile elements—the museum recreates the emotional intensity of the protests. This aligns with Walter Benjamin's idea of storytelling as a process that transmits collective experiences rather than presenting isolated narratives. The museum also represents an alternative museum model that rejects the commodification of art, emphasizing a participatory and process-based practice. Ultimately, MES is a critical case study of how museums can contribute to socio-political change through immersive, community-driven experiences.

This article critiques Byung-Chul Han's Absence: On the Culture and Philosophy of the Far East (2023), arguing that its central distinction between Western "essence" and Far Eastern "absence" relies on a flawed comparative method. The essay contends that Han conflates philosophy with cultural practice, reducing complex traditions to a homogeneous whole. It advances three criticisms: first, this conflation overlooks internal philosophical debates—particularly within Confucianism and Legalism—and diverse social realities; second, selective readings of Daoist texts reduce the dao to "absence," ignoring its generative dynamism and the interplay of presence and non-being in the Daodejing and Zhuangzi; third, the analysis neglects Western thinkers such as Heraclitus, Nietzsche, and Derrida, who also contested fixed essences. Drawing on Chinese art theory, the article further shows that artistic "emptiness" functions as relational potential rather than mere lack. The article concludes that Han's framework, despite its accessible prose, reproduces essentialist and Orientalist tendencies that compromise comparative philosophical inquiry.