This article describes the work done by the organizers of the 2nd Latin American Art Biennial, sponsored by Industrias Kaiser Argentina (IKA), a few days prior to the opening of the event on September 25, 1964, in the city of Córdoba, Argentina. In addition to reporting on the efforts involved in preparing the University City of Córdoba, which was hosting the event, the article refers to the support provided by a variety of institutions, as well as by authorities at the national level. It also suggests that the activities surrounding the Biennial and its accompanying events, as well as the interest they generated, underscored the importance of the contest, which made Córdoba “the true art capital of the Americas and of the whole of South America.”

In 1958, Industrias Kaiser Argentina (IKA), [and auto company] whose headquarters were in the province of Córdoba, launched the I Salón IKA [1st IKA Salon], aimed at giving greater exposure to local artists and their work. The Salon was originally limited to artists from Córdoba, but in the four subsequent editions the scope was widened to include artists from other provinces as well. In 1961, IKA decided to expand the parameters of the event to include the whole country, and organized an international, biennial painting contest. These Latin American Art Biennials were not only promotional vehicles for IKA, they were also an expression of the company’s Pan-American policy, endorsed and promoted by the Organzation of American States (OAS.) This article reports on the growing importance of the contest, which was now being organized for the second time. The 2nd Latin American Art Biennial ran from September 25 through October 12, 1964, and featured the work of artists from ten Latin American countries, as compared to only four at the 1st Biennial. The presiding judge for this second contest was Umbro Apollonio, the European critic who was at that time the director of the Venice Biennale.. The other members of the jury were: José Gómez Sicre, representing the Department of Visual Arts at the OAS; and a delegate from each of the participating countries: Antonio Romera (Chile), Geraldo Ferraz (Brazil), Luis García Pardo (Uruguay), Josefina Plá (Paraguay), Oscar Cerruto (Bolivia), Carlos Rodríguez (Ecuador), Marta Traba (Colombia), Inocente Palacios (Venezuela), Juan Manuel Ugarte Eléspuru (Peru), and Aldo Pellegrini (Argentina). The article also mentions the support provided for the organization and development of the 2nd Latin American Art Biennial by a variety of institutions and national authorities. The involvement of two Paraguayan artists, Enrique Mario Careaga and José Antonio Pratt Mayans, is portrayed as an unusual and unexpected feature of the Biennial, since they sent their works but did not attend the event. The artists referred to cultural issues and a lack of exhibition space in their country, as well as a lack of information from the world outside Paraguay, and explained their strategy as a means of establishing “a cultural connection with other Latin American countries.” The article also highlights the efforts of Ricardo T. Videla, the head of IKA’s external public relations department; Ernesto Farina, the general organizer of the Biennial; Tibor Teleki, IKA’s public relations manager, and Oscar Dreidemie, director of the Museo de Jesús María and Director of the Comisión Nacional de Museos, Monumentos y Lugares Históricos [National Commission for Museums, Monuments, and Historical Places] for the central, northern, and western provinces, who was responsible for organizing the Artesanía popular argentina [Traditional Argentine Handicrafts] exhibit, from pre-Columbian times through the nineteenth century, one of the various events that were presented concurrently with the 2nd Biennial.