The work is based on documentary footage from the 1973 World Cup qualifying football match between Chile and the Soviet Union, it repeats the goal scored by the Chilenian team during the match. What has caught Lagomarsino’s attention in regards to this match is a number of things. Firstly, it took place right after the September 11 military coup, where the democratically elected Marxist President Salvador Allende was deposed, and General Pinochet installed a right-wing military dictatorship that would last for 16 years. Secondly, it took place in the infamous Estado Nacional, a football arena in Chile’s capital Santiago, where thousands of political opponents were jailed, tortured, and executed by Pinochet’s junta. Lastly, the Chilenian team played against itself, as the Soviet team boycotted the event in protest against Pinochet’s regime. With no opponent, the Chilenian team ‘won’ the match.

Untitled (Extended Arguments) is a pertinent examination of the rejection and silencing of oppositional voices and the responsibility of fellow citizens towards such silencing. With his continuous looping of the goal, Lagomarsino illustrates the moment when all opposition has been silenced, and democratic deliberation is replaced by totalitarian monologue. Yet, the Chilenian football players play as if nothing has happened, as if their involvement has no consequence.

On one level, the work brings to mind the decreasing possibilities for civil disobedience and the unconstitutional incarceration of political prisoners after our September 11 and the subsequent War on Terror. On another, it questions what will be the effects of the shifting of the entire political spectrum to the right. With both left- and right-wing parties claiming the center of the political spectrum in the West, are we too approaching a situation where we have managed to silence ethnic, religious, and political others to get the final word?