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.
In 1974 the CAYC began focusing a great deal of its attention on this project, promoting a variety of initiatives in a contemporary circuit of new cultural spaces and centers that were emerging in Europe at the time. The exhibition Arte de Sistemas en latinoamérica traveled to a number of European cities from 1974 to 1976, showing a range of recent Latin American works associated with the original concept of “systems art.”
Jonier Marín (b. 1946) was a pioneer in Conceptual art in Colombia—a forerunner in the field of video art and conceptual photography. He was one of the Latin American artists who took part in the exhibition Arte de sistemas en latinoamérica (GT-414; doc. no. 1476542">1476542, GT-485; doc. no. 1476726) and the Encuentros Internacionales Abiertos de Video (GT S/N; doc. no. pendiente, GT-561; doc. no. 1477265, GT-605-6; doc. no. 1477316).). He subsequently participated in various activities organized by the CAYC. The center in Buenos Aires organized the Coloquio Latinoamericano de Arquitectura in June 1976, where Marín presented an Homenaje (GT- 627; doc. no. pending). As on previous occasions, a solo exhibition of works by the visiting artist was organized at the same time at the center (GT-624; doc. no. pending).
In his early work, Marín exposed the exploitation of natural resources in the jungles of Colombia and Brazil and how this process affected Amerindian communities. In artistic terms, he channeled his environmental concerns through the use of technology and new media (video, photography, installation, and performance). He sought to expand the limits of painting, communication, and the image or graphics. Over the course of his career, Marín’s work has explored many different trends and approaches, including “mail art” and what he called “incommunicable art,” conceptual photography, and performance art.
The CAYC published an article by Marín in newsletter number 414 (doc. no. 1476542">1476542), in which he discussed the Buenos Aires center’s attempts to define Latin American art. That was the idea behind the promotion of the exhibition at the ICC in Antwerp.
