This essay is about an invitation that was extended to Clemente Padín by the Yellow Springs Institute (USA) to perform at the gathering of Latin American artists held in October of 1989, resulting from information on the event. The artist, in an attempt to give international visibility to those focusing their actions on the continent's political crisis, brought together a group of Latin American activists and performers. Emphasis was placed on the Latino community in the United States. The performance by the Uruguayan artist consisted of a space that was previously prepared by Padín for interaction with the public. The performance space was a ritual to the memory of all those who had disappeared or had been murdered for political reasons in Latin America.

The crisis of “value” in contemporary art (demonstrated by the philosophy of art, but not in its market circuits) was based on axiological criteria pertaining to both political criticism and messaging —through the mechanisms of social reproduction— and was considered according to the potential of the respective artistic practices. In 1989, Olga Larnaudie (b. 1942) wrote about an event organized by the Yellow Springs Institute in Pennsylvania (USA) where several Latin American artists gathered, among them, was the Uruguayan experimental poet, performer, and networker Clemente Padín (b. 1939). What united them all was the attempt in their respective artistic developments, in restoring the social function of art by regaining its communicative and informative power. The YSI [Young Scholars Initiative], an institution that has directed its work toward the Latino community in the United States, invited those artists who through their “endeavors” reflected the political, cultural, and ecological crisis of the Latin American continent. Therefore, it was a group of Latin Americans, many of whom were based, permanently or temporarily, in the United States and Europe, among them were some previously known as performers in the 1970s, as was the case of Padín, and additionally the Mexican Felipe Ehrenberg (1943−2017), among others. [Please refer to the ICAA digital archive for the following text: “Arte de Acción en Latinoamérica, cuerpo político y estrategias de resistencia” (doc. no. 1240673)].