This article reports lots of activity going on in Córdoba a few days before the opening of the  Tercera Bienal Americana de Arte [3rd Latin American Art Biennial] (III BAA), sponsored by Industrias Kaiser Argentina (IKA). It stresses the importance of the Biennial, asserting that during the competition, Argentina will be transformed into “el vértice cultural del continente” [the cultural apex of the continent]. The article provides a brief overview of the deployment organized by Christian Sörenson, who is IKA’s Public Relations Manager as well as Director of the III BAA. After stating the amount of the investment for the event (200 million pesos), the article summarizes the background of this Biennial. Starting with IKA’s Primer Salón de Artes Visuales [1st Visual Arts Salon] in 1958, which focused on artists from rural Argentina, the summary concludes with the II Bienal [2nd Biennial], held in 1964. It also points out the importance these exhibitions were acquiring through both the participation of international personalities on the juries and the inclusion of more countries in each successive competition. This time, according to the article, the Biennial would surpass the prior exhibitions in terms of the number of art/visual arts critics from various countries. Moreover, the prizes would be awarded by a jury made up of Alfred H. Barr Jr., Arnold Bode, Sam Hunter, Carlos Raúl Villanueva and Aldo Pellegrini. In conclusion, the article tells us of the work done by the organizers to equip the new facilities in the Facultad de Ciencias Exactas at the Ciudad Universitaria in Córdoba. It also reports on the PERT method (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) used to finalize the works for the opening of the event on time. The article ends with the claim that the “burst of interest unleashed by the festival” . . . “has no parallel or precedent in the annals of Argentine visual arts history.”

In 1958, Industrias Kaiser Argentina (IKA), headquartered in the province of Córdoba, launches an art dissemination project when it organizes the I Salón IKA [1st IKA Salon]. While IKA limits this first salon to artists from Córdoba, the four subsequent events would extend invitations to several regions other than the capital. In 1961, when it decides to broaden the plan to the national level, IKA organizes a biennial painting competition that includes international participation. Indeed, these Bienales Americanas de Arte [Latin American Art Biennials] (BAAs) would serve as a promotional medium for IKA. At the same time, they would showcase the company’s Pan-Americanist policies, which were supported and promoted by the OAS (Organization of American States). The article selected conveys the growing importance of the competition as it approaches the third biennial event. Written a few days before the opening of the III BAA in October 1966, it describes the expectations stirred up by the participation of around 70 visual artists, with approximately 275 works in all. Added to this was the deployment organized by Christian Sörenson, BAA Director and IKA’s Public Relations Manager, to equip the new facilities in the Facultad de Ciencias Exactas at the Ciudad Universitaria in Córdoba. One difference from prior biennials was the composition of the jury. In the past, the juries had one member who was internationally renowned: the representative of the OAS Visual Arts Department, José Gómez Sicre, plus one member from each participating country. This time, the jury was made up of five members: Alfred H. Barr Jr., Director of Collections at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, presiding over the jury; Sam Hunter, Director of New York’s Jewish Museum; Arnold Bode, President of the Documenta Kassel of Germany; Carlos Raúl Villanueva, a Venezuelan architect; and Aldo Pellegrini, Argentine poet, essayist and critic.