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. In addition to the exhibitions, a program of different activities exposed attendees to the latest in scientific thinking. According to Glusberg, the coordination between theoretical thinking and artistic practice was an essential part of social change.
In keeping with its goal of positioning itself as a space for experimental work, especially for projects that sought to combine art, technology, and communication, the CAYC organized a variety of activities. The center was undoubtably the driving force behind the avant-garde as it sought to explore and understand the mass media.
The highly versatile artist Marta Minujín jointly organized Academia del fracaso (Academy of Failure) (GT-524; doc. no. 1476844, GT-550; doc. no. 1477161, GT-552-553-554; doc. no. 1477163)—an event that ran from September 26 to October 6, 1975—with other artists such as Federico Manuel Peralta Ramos, Pier Cantamessa, Carlos Bronovsky, Mercedes Esteves, Carlos Espartaco, and Chito Méndez Casariego. The performance was staged at the CAYC, with the help of Agustín Merello (GT- 210; doc. no. 1478194, GT-222; doc. no. 1478769, GT-249; doc. no. 1478795, GT-307; doc. no. 1478836).
A few days after the event, this newsletter announced a special performance that would include a rendition of two songs inspired by the same subject—a revaluation of failure presented as something positive and liberating—both written by Rodolfo Arizaga (1926–1985) (GT; doc. no. 1478957). This performance would be part of the “Primer Coloquio Latinoamericano de la Comunicación” (GT-565; doc. no. 1479030, GT-566; doc. no. pendiente, GT-569; doc. no. 1478992, GT-572; doc. no. 1478994, GT-574; doc. no. 1478995, GT-575; doc. no. 1478996, GT-576,-577; doc. no. 1478997), which had been announced some months earlier, during the lecture Perspectivas de la investigación en la comunicación en Latinoamérica (Perspectives Gleaned from Research into Communication in Latin America) presented by the Mexican communications specialist Raúl Lomelí (GT-509; doc. no. 1478888).
