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.