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.
In 1963 Romero Brest resigned from the directorate of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes [National Museum of Fine Arts] and accepted a position as director of the ITDT Visual Arts Center]. In that same year, the ITDT Prize was national and international, and included the following foreign artists: Pierre Alechinsky, Janez Bernik, R. B. Kijat, Maryan, Hans Platschek, Achille Perilli, Paul Rebeyrolle, Larry Rivers, Antonio Saura. In addition to this, he Argentinean artists selected were: Roberto Aizenberg, Osvaldo Borda, Aníbal Carreño, Ernesto Deira, Luis Felipe Noé, Rogelio Polesello, Rubén Santantonín, Antonio Seguí, Silvia Torras, and Jorge de la Vega, in addition to Mario Pucciarelli, Clorindo Testa, and Rómulo Macció, who had previously received prizes. In turn, the jury was made up of: Jorge Romero Brest, Jacques Lassaigne, and William Sandberg.
The chosen document concerns the presentation by poet Rodolfo Alonso, attached to the checklist and a note regarding the award’s regulations. They explain some alternatives around the procedures of the Torcuato Di Tella Prize. Mainly with regard to the follow-up of the International Contest which permitted the promotion of works by foreign artists, specifically the innovators at that moment, in tandem with the same consideration to local works within the context of the ITDT Prize. The jurors chosen —both outstanding art critics and directors of international institutions—bring to the fore the local will to invigorate the Argentinean cultural milieu. This document, moreover, states the inauguration of the show at the Torcuato Di Tella Institute Art Museum.
According to the list of artists mentioned in the regulations, three of them did not participate: Fritz Hundertwasser, Asger Jorn, and K.R.H. Sonderborg. In their stead, Hans Platschek and Paul Rebeyrolle were included.
