In Argentina, the Salón Nacional de Artes Plásticas[National Salon of Visual Arts] was created in 1911 and its bylaws have changed throughout the years in response to its needs. Both the 1968 and 1969 Salón Nacional included a Section of “Visual Research” whose purpose was to cover the new trends of experimental art (kinetic objects, Pop Art, and so forth). In 1970 and 1971, it turned into the Annual Competition of Visual Research. In the II Certamen Nacional de Investigaciones Visuales[Second National Competition of Visual Research]—which took place under the de facto government of General Alejandro Agustín Lanusse (1971–1973)—the two pieces that had been awarded the Gran Premio de Honor [Great Honorable Prize] and Primer Premio [First Prize] were censored by Decree 5695/71 of the Executive Branch. The authorities excluded from the exhibition and considered “unacceptable” these awarded pieces, due to their “obvious ideological intent,” thus declaring void both decisions by the jury. These measures caused outrage among artists and some cultural organizations, and spurred several legal causes.
On the occasion of the notice for the 1972 Salón Nacional, the Sociedad Argentina de Artistas Plásticos[Argentine Society of Visual Artists] held an assembly during which it was decided not to participate in said Salón Nacional, but to organize a parallel salon with the premise: “freedom for political, union, and student prisoners; as well as the abolition of repressive laws, the death penalty, torture, and censorship in the area of fine arts.”
Así [Thus] was a magazine founded by Héctor Ricardo García, which published several issues and in the 1970s included topics of general interest and dealt with them spectacularly.
This document was chosen because it details the nature of the Contrasalón organized by the artists in response to the 1972 Salón Nacional, including the persistent repressive acts regarding the freedom of expression and the censorship prevailing under the de facto militarygovernment. This source is connected to the case of censorship that occurred during the II Certamen Nacional de Investigaciones Visuales, carried out in 1971.