In 1960 and a few months after having created the Centro de Arte del Instituto Torcuato Di Tella (ITDT) [Art Center of the Torcuato Di Tella Institute]—directed by a Council made up of Lionello Venturi, Ricardo Camino, Guido Di Tella and Jorge Romero Brest— the ITDT Prize was made possible. The purpose of this center was to cooperate in the diffusion and promotion of the visual arts and to keep in contact with other centers connected with production at both a national and an international level. Within this context, the Premio ITDT [ITDT Prize] was created to provide an opportunity for young Argentinean artists to enrich their experience abroad; nevertheless, its creation did not just allow for the awarding of the grant-prize, but it also spurred the circulation of international art in the local arena, becoming an important reference point for the visual arts renaissance of the time. This prize was awarded to national or international artists, with some variation depending on the year in question, until 1967. Beginning that year, it changed its name and became Experiencias Visuales [Visual Practices], and then just Experiencias [Practices] in 1968 and 1969.
This review is included in the prologue of the exhibition Premio Pintores Argentinos del Instituto Torcuato Di Tella [Argentinean Painters Prize of the Torcuato Di Tella Institute], which was simultaneously presented with the Colección Torcuato Di Tella [Torcuato Di Tella Collection] and an individual exhibition by Alberto Burri, which took place in the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes [National Museum of Fine Arts] in October, 1960. The review brings to the fore the implementation of a high caliber and formative prize within the framework of the foundation’s general objectives.
