Residuos Americanos (American Residues) is an installation created by CADA in 1983 to be shown in Washington D.C. that examines the relationship between used clothing sent from the United States to Chile for resale, and a surgical procedure performed in Chile to remove a brain tumor. Piles of clothing lay on the floor while an audiotape transmits the sound of the surgery, juxtaposing Chilean illness (Chile under dictatorship) with American excess. According to Nelly Richard, Residuos Americanos resignifies the word residuos (residues) in two ways: first as a denunciative tactic that unveils the inequality under which the Third World must live on the unconsumed leftovers of the First World, and then as a parodic revenge in which CADA participates in an exchange with unusable leftovers—a damaged brain.

For further reading, see Nelly Richard’s Ensayos de crítica cultural sobre el Chile de la transición.

There is no video documentation of this installation.