At Milan's Fabbrica del Vapore, a unique opportunity to step into the life of Ernesto Che Guevara, the revolutionary who became a symbol of the twentieth century. A man before anything else, and a fighter second.
Fifty years have passed since his death, which occurred on 9 October 1967, and Che Guevara is and remains one of the most popular secular icons of the twentieth century. To mark the anniversary, Milan has seen the inauguration of an exhibition that is at once an introspective and journalistic journey into the personality of the man of whom Sartre said "he was the most complete human being of our era". The exhibition Che Guevara. Tu y todos will extend its run by one day, and on 2 April will remain open to visitors from 10am to 7pm.
Read also: Camilo Guevara. Why we still need Che's values today
His son Camilo Guevara, who today is actively involved with the Centro de estudios Guevara, describes him as a revolutionary with principles, and it is perhaps this aspect, this dimension, that emerges with such force in this exhibition-cum-documentary, visitable in Milan at the Fabbrica del Vapore. Ernesto (known as Che) Guevara was above all a man capable of fighting to the very end for his ideals — ideals that were not self-serving but aimed at bringing into being a society of "new men" in which selfishness would have no place.
An Argentine who embraced the Cuban cause and gave everything he had to it, distancing himself from his parents, his partner, his children. Whatever one may think of his ideals and intentions, Che was first a doctor, then a politician, and only lastly a revolutionary. Someone who threw himself without hesitation into a battle that was first and foremost one of thought and ideals.
In a world like ours today, how can one not appreciate — or at the very least find fascinating — a person who professed the idea of a new man whose purpose was to build the common good of a society that would not forget those left behind? Unrealisable or utopian as it may have been, this was Ernesto's "mission", and in the vast spaces of the Fabbrica del Vapore, through documents, video and above all audio, it reaches the visitor directly, even the most sceptical.
An ambitious project, one that restores Guevara to his real, human dimension and sets aside, for a moment, the iconic image of T-shirts and weightless slogans. A documentary and organisational effort of genuine distinction. An absolute must-see.
To visit Che Guevara. Tú y todos there are two preliminary points worth noting: allow at least 2 hours, and enter his world without preconceptions. More than an exhibition, it is in fact a lengthy documentary that draws on several art forms as well as journalistic sources. The result of 2 years of planning, a working group of 10 people, 2,000 documents including photographs, letters, postcards and writings, 97 hours of documentaries and 14 hours of official recordings. An immense and meticulous project whose outcome demands time and patience to fully take in.
This is not an exhibition to visit lightly — the audio guide may well help — but above all the first, journalistic-historical section demands time and patience. There is a great deal to learn, however, not only about past history but also about what is happening today. Guevara's biography and his struggles are also the account of an era. Among the immersive cubes that visitors can enter and experience first-hand the events of Che's life (through both images and headphones narrating what we see), one is truly moving: the one that immerses us in the killing of Guevara, his assassination. All at once we are surrounded by blood red — the blood of the slain revolutionary fighter.
On the upper floor, in a more artistic and intimate space, we enter without censorship into Ernesto's private life: the letters to his parents whom he had not seen for years, the verses written for his daughter, the photographs showing him in the everyday moments of his "other" life. Here, through touchscreen "video tables", it is possible to scroll through and leaf through the memory album of a man who left his loved ones to fight. And then: the emotion of hearing the speeches Che delivered at public assemblies, in squares, among the people, where the passion and conviction with which he professed an ideal of justice and equality are unmistakable.
An experience, not an exhibition, to be lived in order to understand the life of a new man.
Che Guevara. Tú y todos will be open until 2 April, with the following opening times: every day from 10am to 7:30pm, except Fridays and Saturdays when it stays open until 9:30pm. Closed on Mondays. Tickets cost €15. The Skira catalogue is on offer at €29.