Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

The North American curator, Anne Umland, claims that the artist, Félix González Torres, who was born in Cuba and lives in New York, is questioning the meaning of private and public in his series of advertising proposals. The photographs in this [...]

Leandro Soto Ortiz interprets the sculptural works of fellow artist Raoul Deal that were featured in the exhibition La Esperanza del Loro Verde. Soto Ortiz positions Deal’s work within a Postmodernist current, contextualizing it at the core of [...]

In this text, Uruguayan artist Luis Camnitzer recounts the experience of The New York Graphic Workshop. In addition to describing the early days of the group, he explains its three principal aims: 1) to redefine printmaking on the level of theory and [...]

In his text for the Art in Editions: New Approaches (New York, Loeb Student Center: January 8–31, 1968) exhibition catalog, Luis Camnitzer explains the objective of the exhibition and describes the nature of the work of each of the participating [...]

This text provides a brief description of the aims of the New York Graphic Workshop (NYGW) from the time of its founding in 1964. It states that the works exhibited in the show, The New Graphic Workshop (Caracas: Instituto Nacional de Cultura y [...]

In this essay we find Antonio Berni writing about the avant-garde in general—he discusses how the movement is faring in underdeveloped countries, describes the artists involved, and ponders its separation from the general public [...]

In this document Antonio Berni writes about a trip to the Museo Reverón in Macuto (Venezuela), and describes the coastal environment and the objects within the house museum. He critiques the commentaries concerning both the painting and madness of [...]

This is the mail art that Liliana Porter exhibited at Experiencias 69 I [Visual Practices 69 I] at the Centro de Artes Visuales at the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella (September 5–14, 1969.) Porter’s exhibit consisted of four envelopes, each with its [...]

Luis Camnitzer discusses the New York Graphic Workshop (NYGW) exhibition at the Museo de Bellas Artes [Museum of Fine Arts] in Caracas in January 1969, musing on the idea of the “museum as device” and, therefore, on the role of the “art object [...]

In this essay, Uruguayan artist Luis Camnitzer proposes a new definition for the concept of the “print.” He also transcribes the first and second Manifestos of the New York Graphic Workshop (NYGW) from 1964 and 1966, and explains the idea behind [...]

In this essay, Liliana Porter discusses the work she presented at the Museo de Bellas Artes [Museum of Fine Arts] in Caracas in January 1969, at the exhibition The New York Graphic Workshop. She includes some biographical information and a list of [...]

Architects and theoreticians Diana Agrest and Mario Gandelsonas assert that the work of conceptual Argentinean artist Lea Lublin is a reflection in a practical state, since it unravels the mechanisms ruling the production of images in the [...]

Pierre Restany writes that Lea Lublin’s work Fluvio Subtunal [Sub-Tunnel Flow] (1969) is a systematic work about the structures of psycho-sensorial communication. Restany explains the development of Lublin’s production as a research into visual [...]

The Argentinean conceptual artist Lea Lublin describes her work Fluvio Subtunal [Sub-Tunnel Flow] (1969), created from a concept stemming from the opposition between nature and technology. The work consists of a walkthrough through nine zones of [...]

Argentinean conceptual artist Lea Lublin describes with precision the materials, route, and luminous instructions to her Terranauta [Terranaut] (1969) environment, as seen from the perspective of her theory Life/Language= Art, seeking to provoke the [...]

The conceptual artist Lea Lublin writes that her work analyzes the problem of the image stemming from its inscription in space, which is considered as a continuous medium of transformations. For her, the artwork is an image index (which is off- [...]

Ignacio Pirovano wrote a brief letter to Alberto Greco on the impact his exhibition Las Monjas [The Nuns] had had on him; he considered the works to be an eerie testimony of the current era. Furthermore, Pirovano considered that with this exhibition [...]

Manuel Mujica Láinez wrote a brief letter addressed to a so-called Tía Ursulina [Aunt Ursulina] in which he held that Alberto Greco was a wizard; in other words, a producer of many paintings, of mysterious richness in every painting [...]

Dora de la Torre wrote about the exhibition Las Monjas [The Nuns] by Alberto Greco at the Galería Pizarro, pointing to the artist’s success; moreover, signaling him as head of Informalism, someone whose jeers were taken seriously by the critics. [...]

Making use of anecdotes, Córdova Iturburu wrote of his understanding of Alberto Greco and his work Mi Madrid querido [My Beloved Madrid]. Relying on Jorge Romero Brest’s comments, he recounted how he familiarized himself with “pintura espectá [...]

In the Declaration that accompanied the Tucumán Arde [Tucumán is Burning] exhibition, the artists denounce “the hidden truth behind this Operation”: the attempt to destroy the unions and guilds of the northeastern part of Argentina through the [...]

Jorge Romero Brest introduces the exhibition of works by Carlos Melano and refers to Melano’s predilection for art in search of an audience that sees the world as he does. Romero Brest claims to have accepted the risk of presenting such a [...]

The artist wrote on the history of his studio, noting that his teaching objective was the concept of freedom of expression and setting aside the local attitude in favor of a Universalist idea. In this way, Grela demonstrated each of the exhibitor’s [...]

Jorge Glusberg writes that today’s artist brings forth “meta-creations,” on one side, and on the other, that his attitude must be of rebellion against society. He explains Lea Lublin’s previous works of art side by side her current ones, [...]

Emilio Renart reflects upon the act of creation. He rejects the idea of “inspiration, the rapt emotions it implies,” “the established rules,” [and] paradigms. The artist then proposes to work with “truths that suffice in and of themselves [...]

The text contains records of the artists connected to the Centro de Arte y Comunicación (CAyC) [Center of Art and Communication] who participated in the exhibition, Arte de Sistemas II [Systems Art] (Buenos Aires, September 1972). Each record [...]

This document is a catalog of the exhibition El Grupo de los Trece en Arte de Sistemas [The Group of Thirteen in Systems Art] (Buenos Aires: Centro de Arte y Comunicación, December 1972 – March 1973 [...]

The text presents the objective of the exhibition CAyC al Aire Libre o Arte e Ideología, CAyC al Aire Libre [CAyC in the Open Air or Art and Ideology, CAyC in the Open Air] (Buenos Aires, Plaza Roberto Arlt). It meant to generate an encounter, that [...]

[This document is a record] of the works by the artists linked to the Centro de Arte y Comunicación [Center for Art and Communication] (CAyC) who participated in the exhibition Arte de Sistemas [Systems Art] (Buenos Aires: Museo de Arte Moderno, [...]

This entire issue of the magazine Ovum 10 is dedicated to a report on Tucumán Arde [Tucumán is Burning]. The brief introduction, which precedes the documentary anthology, presents the work as “one of the most important and explosive actions [...]

This report includes an extensive unsigned article as well as a number of important documents and photos. It begins by presenting the placement and positions of “the boldest artists of their country…and one of the most brilliant teams of the [...]

This United States academic journal disseminates the translation of the Cronología [Chronology] prepared by the artists reporting on the events that occurred throughout 1968, as well as other documents of their timetable, although with modified [...]

The article begins by stating the importance that study-abroad scholarships had for young Argentinean artists, emphasizing in particular the role played by the prize awarded by the Asociación Ver y Estimar [To See and Ponder Magazine Association]. [...]

After describing the inauguration of Tucumán Arde [Tucumán is Burning] in Rosario, Cousté goes back to the middle of 1968 in order to point out a series of episodes that can be seen as antecedents of both the subsequent uprising [Tucumán Arde] as [...]

This circular, signed by the regional secretary and the secretary for Press and Propaganda of the CGT (Confederación General del Trabajo) [General Work Confederation] of Rosario is addressed to the union members in order to inform them on the [...]

This article—a summary of Tucumán Arde [Tucumán is Burning] when it was still in the process of being realized—is of interest because it identifies the work as belonging to “Arte y comunicación de masas” [Art and mass communications], [...]

This new pamphlet, titled “La Nueva Moda” [“The New Style”], demonstrates the inherent contradiction between participating in an exhibition and, at the same time, formulating an extreme critique to be produced within that art institution.  [...]

This document by the Equipo de Contrainformación [Counter-information Team] (the only material written by the group) is divided into three sections. The first is a declaration of principles; the second is the script for the historical account ( [...]

This unsigned report, published in Sobre Nº 1 [Envelope no. 1], documents the experiences of a group of artists who joined the strike committee of Fabril Financiera in February 1969. It discusses the difference between producing a work of art or an [...]

León Ferrari writes a detailed evaluation of Tucumán Arde [Tucumán is Burning], framing it within the previous events (Itinerario del ’68) [Timetable for 1968]. In it he points out that “its purpose was to make art into a revolutionary tool, [...]

This brief but significant assessment of Tucumán Arde [Tucumán is Burning] entitled “Límites de lo legal” [The Limits of Legality] was published in the magazine Sobre Nº 1. The text, that was signed by the Grupo de Artistas de Vanguardia of [...]

The text discusses the work method of the Grupo de los Trece [Group of Thirteen] in relation to its constitution. As the coordinator of the group, David Cooper analyzes, on the one hand, the internal problems of the group, “las ansiedades de cada [...]

Jorge Glusberg defines the artist as a modeler of everyday reality, as the “creador de nuevos entornos” [“creator of new environments”], as the “humanizador de la geometría” [“humanizer of geometry”], as “responsible por la [...]

This document from the Centro de Arte y Comunicación [Center for Art and Communication] presents the declarations made by different people and international cultural organizations to the president of the Republic, Lieutenant General Alejandro Agust [...]

Through different authors, Jorge Glusberg defines the concept of ideology in order to relate it to the reality of Latin American art: “En los países ideológicamente sometidos por las metrópolis y económicamente [...]

This CAyC document (dated June 12, 1972) presents a series of questions that establish a relationship between art and social and political problems [...]

Catalog for the exhibition De la figuración al arte de sistemas [From Figuration to Systems Art] (Córdoba: Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes Emilio A. Caraffa, August 1970 [...]

This text characterizes the nature of the talk given by Luis Pazos and Juan Carlos Romero at the Centro De Arte y Comunicación [Center for Art and Communication] (CAyC) in connection with the show Hacia un perfil del arte latinoamericano [Towards a [...]

This text is an article regarding the exhibition put forward by a group of artists from Rosario (Graciela Carnevale, Lía Maisonnave, Noemí Escandell and Fernández Bonina) at the Galería Lirolay [in Buenos Aires] in June 1968. According to the [...]

This document is a summary containing statistical data (percentages and numbers) of several relevant variables that demonstrate the magnitude of the Tucumán crisis. Actualized data was obtained from different sources (some official and some from [...]