At the end of 1968, once Tucumán Arde [Tucumán is Burning] had abruptly culminated, there was a new attempt to propel the formation of a communal space that would bring diverse cultural groups together toward a political intervention. Towards the end of December, a series of meetings were convened at the Sociedad Argentina de Artistas Plásticos (SAAP) under the title “Primer Encuentro de Buenos Aires, Cultura 1968” [First Encounter of Buenos Aires, Culture 1968]. The initiative—which began with Margarita Paksa—included the participation of fifty intellectuals. It was called to carry out an assessment of various cultural experiences then taking place in theater, journalism, literature, sociology, cinema and the visual arts in order to contemplate a juncture with politics. In addition to a debate regarding the standing of each group, the convocation also proposed the determination of political-cultural actions that it could implement collectively. Cultura 1968 denotes the effort to gather together the broad spectrum of the cultural field: broad not only due to the diversity of disciplines represented, but also because many of those present had maintained contrasting positions (political, cultural-political, and aesthetic) for years.
The Encuentro was extended to March 1969, with weekly meetings attended by fifty to 200 people at the SAAP premises (Florida 846), but the extension of the scheduled dates was not due to the realization of the group’s project. It was due to a fierce debate that broke out regarding the work and funding for the sociological research team known as “Proyecto Marginalidad” [Marginality Project]. The accusations against those researchers, as well as their aftershocks, suggested a new axis that displaced the focus of the discussion and ended by obstructing the formulation of new common initiatives.
