Ever since it was founded, the CAYC (Centro de Arte y Comunicación), helmed by the cultural promoter, artist, and businessman Jorge Glusberg, was intended as an interdisciplinary space where an experimental art movement could flourish. The establishment of collaborative networks connecting local and international artists and critics played an important role in this process. The exhibitions shone a light on these exchanges, in which overviews of trends or individual artists provided an introduction to the innovations of international contemporary art and made Argentine and Latin American artists better known on the global scene.
The exhibition announced in this newsletter is the second version of the one that was shown in May 1973. In his text [see GT-239 (doc. no. 1476434)], Glusberg introduces the exhibition with a semiotic analysis that describes art as a “communications system.” Rather than consider the artistic process, it focuses on the shared codes that facilitate such an exchange of signs, not to mention the implications it has for human behavior and the the relations of domination that condition it.
The introductory essay for Arte en cambio II, in September 1974, is more explicit in terms of the expectations that drove the center (in general) and the Grupo de los Trece (in particular). There is even a hint of the Gramsci style of revolutionary thinking: “The true common goal is not to create a new art but to contribute to the development of a new culture.” That phrase sums up the work the group had done since it was founded.
In November 1971, as a result of their encounter with the Polish theater director Jerzy Grotowski (1933–1999), the founder of what was called “poor theater,” members of the CAYC met to discuss the goals and organization of a group, the Grupo de los Trece (Group of Thirteen), to include Jacques Bedel, Luis Fernando Benedit, Gregorio Dujovny, Carlos Ginzburg, Víctor Grippo, Jorge González Mir, Vicente Marotta, Luis Pazos, Alberto Pellegrino, Alfredo Portillos, Juan Carlos Romero, Julio Teich, and Jorge Glusberg. Since then, the group combined the methods of a political cell with the dynamics of a business group (which is where the brainstorming technique came from) and psychoanalytical group therapy. Based on this focus on collaboration, where members do their own thing but share common goals, the group considered itself a model for social change.
Mirtha Dermisache, Carlos Espartaco, Edgardo Antonio Vigo, and Mercedes Esteves showed their work at the exhibition but were not members of the Grupo de los Trece. The idea for the group arose during a turbulent time in the political history of Argentina. The death of Juan Domingo Perón (on July 1, 1974), during his third presidency, plunged the country into a mood of instability and profound uncertainty at an institutional level, because he left his second wife and vice president in charge. The country was stricken with widespread violence during the struggle between different segments of the political factions and the threat of armed groups. The moment was ripe for a new military coup d’état in March 1976.
