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 Centro de Artes Visuales del ITDT [ITDT Visual Arts Center]. In that same year, the ITDT Prize was both national and international. The foreign artists included were as follows: Pierre Alechinsky, Janez Bernik, R. B. Kijat, Maryan, Hans Platschek, Achille Perilli, Paul Rebeyrolle, Larry Rivers, Antonio Saura. In turn, the 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 were previously awarded. Indeed, the jurors were: Jorge Romero Brest, Jacques Lassaigne, and William Sandberg.
This is William Sandberg’s presentation, who—in addition to having been an organizer of the Paris World Exhibition, a jury member at the London Political Prisoner Monument Contest and the Venice and São Paulo Biennials—was the director of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Thus, the document mentions the alternatives for the procedures in the Torcuato Di Tella Prize. Particularly with regard to the follow-up of the International contest that allowed the display of the most innovative foreign artists’ production at that time, and the promotion of national artists integrated to the context of the Prize. Likewise, the selection of the jury—distinguished critics and the directors of international institutions—illustrates the search for recognition of the Argentinean cultural milieu.