The Grupo de Arte de Vanguardia de Rosario—created by a fusion of three workshops, with artists from different artistic organizations (alumni from Juan Grela, the Grupo Taller, and recent graduates of the Escuela de Bellas Artes de la Universidad)—initiates its public collective actions and position statements at the end of 1965. Two years later, the group acquires more cohesion and is acknowledged as one of the most dynamic experimental art groups in the country. The Ciclo de Arte Experimental [Experimental Practices of Art Series], planned for the early 1968, began in May inside a space that was given to the group by an advertising agency. A short time later, the Instituto Di Tella from Buenos Aires granted it a subsidy that allowed the group to rent a small glass space inside a commercial gallery. Every two weeks, until October 1968, the group would stage an exhibition proposed by one of its members.
Noemí Escandell’s exhibition was the fourth proposal in the art series on July 1968, and carried out at the new space. Her message was a critique of the stereotypes for transmitting civic values in elementary schols; the installation consisted of objects that are frequently used in commemorative events (flags, busts of presidents, garlands, and the like). She thus spotlighted the iconography of Jingoism reduced to school standards, and enriched her presentation with texts and photographs of a selection of the commemorative monuments in Rosario.
