The Calabozo

Virtual reconstructions of imaginary places traditionally focus only on the modeling of physical architectural features -geometry, proportionality, and measurement. Other elements that could communicate the subjective experiencing of the place are often relegated to second priority. In this book I approach virtual reconstruction from a cinematic perspective integrating narrative, light modeling and sound and address the subjective experiencing of a place: the memories Uruguayan women have of the calabozo (solitary confinement cell). In June of 2002, I went to Uruguay and interviewed nine female former political prisoners of the Uruguayan dictatorship (1973-85). My research aimed at relating their experience of prison through a video installation based on these women's personal stories of the calabozo. This book is the product of my research over a period of five years and is intended mainly to social scientists such as architects, archaeologists, film and video scholars. However, the visualization of the calabozo experience aims at a general public. It creates a symbolic place -a memorial- to each of these women, individually and collectively. The women of the calabozo embody the extraordinary power of the human spirit we all have.