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. In addition to the exhibitions, a program of different activities exposed attendees to the latest innovations in art and scientific thinking. According to Glusberg, the coordination between theoretical thinking and artistic practice was an essential part of social change.
During the military dictatorship of General Juan Carlos Onganía, the CAYC became a cultural home for the Fundación de Investigación Interdisciplinaria, a space that welcomed a group of dissident professors from the Facultad de Arquitectura y Ciencias Exactas de la Universidad de Buenos Aires after the military takeover of the university in what came to be known as “La Noche de los Bastones Largos” in June 1966. In its early years the center organized a variety of activities with intellectuals that contributed to the circulation of ideas from different disciplines (analytical philosophy, mathematical logic, epistemological problems, psychology, semiotics, and linguistics), which had been excluded from official circles.
The center’s interest led to the creation of the Escuela de Altos Estudios (EAE) in early 1973. The objectives described in the relevant newsletters (GT-201; doc. no. 1478752, GT-201- A; doc. no. 1478753, GT-224; doc. no. 1478771, GT-219; doc. no. 1478755) were apparent in the activities organized by the EAE (some of which were more technical than interdisciplinary), as well as in the art produced by artists associated with the center. This initiative was an expression of the mood of openness of the “Cultural Spring” that flowered during the brief democratic presidency of Héctor J. Cámpora, which lasted forty-nine days in 1973. It was seen as putting an end to a seven-year period of military dictatorships (first under Onganía, then Levingston, and then Lanusse), after Peronism had been outlawed for eighteen years.
Augusto Salazar Bondy (1925–1974) was a Peruvian professor, philosopher, and education specialist. He was a founding member of the Movimiento Social Progresista (MSP), a progressive social movement whose members included well known Peruvian intellectuals. He was a driving force behind the Peruvian Educational Reform during the nationalist government headed by General Juan Velasco Alvarado (1968–75). As mentioned in the newsletter article announcing his presentation at the CAYC, Salazar Bondy sought to draw attention to the dominant role that world powers played in the cultural affairs of Latin American countries. He thus proposed the creation of an original cultural identity both for the region and for its liberation. This position was in line with the new discursive approach adopted by the center midway through the previous year, at a time when the Grupo de los Trece were making their first public appearances. (GT-116; doc. no. 1476404, GT-125; doc. no. 1476409, GT-128-II-III; doc. no. 1476410; GT-138; doc. no. 1476335).
