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 first version of Arte en cambio was an exhibition of works by the Grupo de los Trece presented at the CAYC’s premises in May 1973 (GT-233; doc. no. 1476435, GT-239; doc. no. 1476434). On that occasion Horacio Zabala was officially confirmed as a member of the group that came to represent the CAYC. He proposed the title of the exhibition, thinking in terms of a broad interpretation of freedom, something that was in short supply during that period of successive coups and military authoritarianism. Zabala was referring to the idea that every artist was free to change his approach rather than remain bound to repeat what had already been done by others or to keep repeating himself. (María José Herrera, interview with the artist, January 2022.)
In this second version, organized in 1976, the concept was expanded—in addition to the Grupo de los Trece, this edition would include a broader selection of artists (GT-618; doc. no. 1477194), some of whom were regular collaborators in the CAYC’s activities. The recycling of the title reflects Glusberg’s decision to move on from the category of “arte de sistemas” that, from then on, was no longer used in connection with the center’s projects. This was due, in part, to the censorship and repression that were expected to be imposed (after March 24 of that year) by the recently installed military dictatorship. The social and political instability in Argentina lasted for almost a decade, making it impossible to produce any art that was explicitly critical of the situation. By contrast, political content had been a major part of everything the CAYC had done since 1972. On the other hand, Arte en cambio II was an acknowledgement of an international art scene in which Conceptualism was no longer of prime importance, giving way to new trends such as those known as “nt.”
Beyond his role as organizer of this exhibition, Glusberg also presented Tipología urbana, a collection of fifty photographic images of the city of Buenos Aires that included, among other things, urban gas distribution valves and municipal logos. Originally presented in 1972 and then again on subsequent occasions—such as the 1977 São Paulo Biennial—the installation focused on both the indexical nature of photography and on the acknowledgement of an urban identity reflected in its street signs. Some years later, Glusberg referred to this project in semiotic terms, mentioning its “discursive” nature as regards a synchronic whole (the road surfaces in the city at a particular time) and a diachronic whole (different periods evoked by different types of paving and their degree of wear). He describes it as an expression of a measure of diversity within that whole (different surfaces in the same area) and in terms of a prospective quality: surfaces seen as what sustain and aspire to future construction. (Jorge Glusberg, Del pop art a la nueva imagen,1985.)
