The catalogue for the 1981 exhibition held at the Galería del Notariado by the group Axioma, expresses concerns about the critical view of the new artistic trends and their connection to the local environment. The group chose, by way of international reference, a quotation by the Conceptual artist Joseph Kosuth referring to current art and its nature. At the same time, it recognized the support of the CGM (Club de Grabado de Montevideo [Montevideo Engravers Club]) for group discussions, reaffirming its thoughtful selection when debating the nickname “Axioma” chosen by the collective. In the 1980s, it was one of the three most important proto-conceptualist groups in Uruguay.

The present document about the group Axiom (1981) announced its exhibition in one of the new exhibition spaces of the 1980s, the Galería del Notariado, that had opened to innovative and sometimes transgressive ideas during the period of dictatorship. Nevertheless, it also had established an orderly statement of its ideological standards, and its reflective procedures which offered ideas based on practicing group discussions and group elaboration. This was a novel artistic approach in the seventies, as in the case of the groups Octaedro and Los Otros. Criticism of traditional technical elements, such as painting and sculpture, were also apparent and understood by Axioma as a reductive perspective and which is also why the quotation made sense at the time, a quotation taken from one of the most important Conceptual Art theorists, Joseph Kosuth, born in 1945. The group recognized the discursive support offered by the CGM (Club de Grabado de Montevideo [Montevideo Engravers Club]) as a surviving institution during the military dictatorship (1973–84) with a long tradition and joined by other members during the eighties. Finally, Axioma presented a series of mathematical concepts with clear associations to the social field and from which the group name was chosen, explaining its unmatched principle: the axiom. Throughout their projects, they exhibited in spaces that linked art to strong social integration. These included housing cooperatives, union headquarters, and the book fair, participating in the concept of the amplification and integration of “artistic expressions” by summoning poets and performers. [Please refer to the ICAA digital archive for the following texts: “Grupo Axioma,” by Álvaro Cármenes, José Onir Da Rosa, et. al. (doc. No.1250744), and “Grupo Octaedro” [An interview by Fernando Álvarez Cozzi (doc. no.1259780].