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. As part of the interdisciplinary approach it had always encouraged, the CAYC promoted experimental practices, appropriating a variety of examples of Argentine art from the 1960s.
After being involved in the experimental theater scene at the Instituto Di Tella during the previous decade, Alejo Piovano coordinated the Teatro del Encuentro group’s performances at the CAYC in 1973 and 1974, presenting Ceremonia del segundo Nacimiento (Ceremony of the Second Birth) (GT-302; doc. no. 1478986, GT-317; doc. no. 1478987) as part of the Ciclo de Investigaciones Teatrales (GT-297; doc. no. 1478830, GT-301; doc. no. 1478985, GT-308; doc. no. 1478837, GT-321; doc. no. 1478841, GT-418; doc. no. 1478895, GT-427; doc. no. 1478901GT 297, 301, 308, 321, 418, 427). The participating groups shared a common aesthetic approach, which was based on the interaction between actors and audience and a minimal reliance on props. This style was inspired by Jerzy Grotowski (1933–1999) and his “poor theater” concept—using only the actors’ bodies and voices on an “empty” stage with no scenery. Teatro Pobre claimed a direct link to performance art, an experimental movement that Glusberg promoted in the local art scene.
Grotowski’s ideas also influenced the work of the Grupo de los Trece, a visual artists’ collective organized at the CAYC. The original members of the group—Jacques Bedel, Luis (Fernando) Benedit, Gregorio Dujovny, Carlos Ginzburg, Víctor Grippo, Jorge González Mir, Vicente Marotta, Luis Pazos, Alberto Pellegrini, Alfredo Portillos, Juan Carlos Romero, Julio Teich, and Glusberg—met the Polish theater director when he came to Buenos Aires in November 1971 (GT-94; doc. no. 1478761). Shortly after the performances at the CAYC that are announced in this newsletter, the Teatro del Encuentro group took part in the complementary activities at the Semana Latinoamericana organized by the CAYC as part of the exhibition Arte de Sistemas en Latinoamérica (Systems Art in Latin America) at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) London (GT-469; doc. no. 1476911, GT-470; doc. no. 1476912).
