In this document Rubén Santantonín establishes the difference between objects and things; in other words, the manner in which he names his works. He explains that the former lack all “indicio humano” [“human traces”]; they are incomprehensible to man, “encerrados en sí mismos, en su existencia para sí” [“they are shut away in themselves, in existence for their own sake”]. On other hand, things are understood by the artist as “como superación del objeto en el sentido de que esos mismos objetos, fríos y herméticos, animados por la inevitable pasión humana, se transforman en cosa” [“overtaking the object in the sense that these same objects, cold and inscrutable, inspired by inexorable human passion, are transformed into things”]. After mentioning other differences, Santantonín concludes by explaining that “nombra cosas a estos objetos [a su obra], porque si los nombrara objetos los colocaría en el campo de la objetividad y, en cambio, deseo que no salgan del campo de la cosidad, el único en el que pueden actualmente alcanzar sentido artístico” [“I call these objects [his work] things because if I were to call them objects I would be placing them in the sphere of objectivity and, in turn, I do not want them to fall outside the realm of things, the only manner in which they can currently attain an artistic sensibility”].

Rubén Santantonín (1919-1969) coined the term “cosas” for his artistic production. He used the term to refer to cardboard reliefs, which were meant to be exhibited on supporting walls, as well as to hanging objects, created with rudimentary materials such as plaster, cloth, cardboard and wire.  In this document, the distinction made by Santantonín between the essence of the “thing”—as distinct from the “object”—reveals the existentialist and phenomenological nature of his work. This stance clearly distances him from “Pop art,” a term that, at the time, was used on certain occasions to classify his works, as well as all those that differed from the traditional canonical notions regarding “artwork.”  Owned by Mario and Paulette Fano, Galería Lirolay in the 1960s was managed by Germain Derbecq, a French critic and artist, who was also the wife of sculptor Pablo Curatella Manes. The gallery would mount new shows every two weeks. It was in this space that the artists who would later that same decade gain greater visibility at the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella [Torcuato Di Tella Institute] held their first exhibitions.