Listen Here Now! Argentine Art of the 1960s: Writings of the Avant-Garde

by Ines Katzenstein (Editor)

In recent writings and exhibitions on postwar art, the avant-garde of 1960s Argentina has emerged as one of the most vital and original of that extraordinarily dynamic period. Although these artists were as radical as any in the world, especially in their thinking on conceptual art and the dematerialization of the art object, very few of them have enjoyed much international exposure. Listen, Here, Now! Argentine Art in the 1960s is the first book to explore the intense, internationally significant developments in Argentine art of the 1960s through English translations of the original documents of the time. An anthology of invaluable primary source material on the development of performance art, media art and political art in Argentina, it includes key essays by two of the most brilliant Argentine art critics of the period, Jorge Romero Brest and Oscar Masotta, and many texts by manifestos, letters, lectures and project notes. Well-known Latin American scholars contribute chapter introductions placing the ideas and arguments of these documents in context for foreign audiences. A comprehensive appendix of biographical and bibliographical data completes the book.

Genres: Art

304 pages, Paperback

First published June 2, 2004

Reviews

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the late 1970s & early 1980s I subscribed to & regularly read 2 political anti-CIA magazines: Counterspy & C.A.I.B. (Covert Action Information Bulletin). These were AMAZING sources of info regarding the havoc being wreaked on the world by US Covert Operations. They were also almost insufferable to read: full of extreme detail about torture & murder. & Argentina under the coup d'etat in 1976 of the Junta of Commanders in Chief was the WORST. The sheer quantity of people disappeared was phenomenal. Total brutality. How any intelligent sensitive person in Argentina survived this era is beyond me. Many were killed, many fled.

W/ this history behind me, & w/ very little other knowledge about Argentina, I was eager to read about avant-garde culture in the decade preceeding this nightmare, eager to try to get a grip on what was happening there culturally, eager to find out who did what & whether they survived.

As I was reading this, I was often bored - it's academic - & sometimes excited: there are some interesting ideas. Only one of the artists ended up murdered - but, as another one noted, it was mainly the working class being murdered at the time, the artists, regardless of the political nature of their work, were more privileged.

There was a happening that didn't happen - it was created as a media event; there was an investigation into political conditions in a poor province: data gathered to contradict the mass media's propaganda; there were artists burning their work in protest of the police closing an exhibit; there were artists protesting a prize that'd involved censorship; there was a rapid politicization of many of the artists; there were arrests.

In the chronology provided at the end of the bk about Argentinian events from 1945 to 1983, there's mentioned a military coup in 1955, one in 1962, one in 1966, & one in 1976. Reading this bk won't really help you understand all this, but it'll add some interesting details.

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essential reading for those interested in forming a more inclusive understanding of experimental / political art practices of the late twentieth century. Here, numerous English translations from the primary sources via manifestos, statements and essays are presented from key figures of the movement. I'm a fan of Alberto Greco and the Tucuman Arde project which is why I sought out the book. There's so much more in the book -- fascinating entry to avant-garde Argentina.