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 other rural provinces. In 1961, when it decides to broaden the plan to the national level, IKA organizes a biennial painting competition that includes international participation. These Bienales Americanas de Arte [Latin American Art Biennials] (BAAs) would serve as a promotional vehicle for IKA. At the same time, they would showcase the company’s Pan-Americanist policies, which were supported and promoted by the OAS.This article shows how important the BAA has become since the first biennial, citing short articles and headlines published in journals in different Latin American countries that would be participating in the II BAA. This is how it informs us of the expectations generated around the competition that would run from May to July 1964, when the opening was just a few days off. These expectations were not just created by the patron organization, IKA; they were also coming from the countries that would be involved. The article also highlights the work performed by the event’s organizers, paying special attention to the dissemination tasks involved. These tasks included sending the information to art critics and cultural institutions; correspondence with ambassadors, painters and journalists; photo competitions with a biennial theme; free passage for journalists on Argentine railroads to facilitate and ensure their attendance, etc. The II BAA would take place at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, with the participation of artists from ten countries—Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela as well as Argentina. The artists, in turn, would be chosen by a Selection Committee formed in each country for the occasion. The president of the jury would be Umbro Apollonio, Director of the Modern Art History Archive of the Venice Biennial; another important juror would be José Gómez Sicre, as representative of the OAS Department of Visual Arts. There would also be one jury member for each of the participating countries: Oscar Cerruto (Bolivia); Geraldo Ferraz (Brazil); Antonio Romera (Chile); Marta Traba (Colombia); Carlos Rodríguez (Ecuador); Josefina Plá (Paraguay); Juan Manuel Ugarte Elespuru (Peru); Luis García Pardo (Uruguay); Inocente Palacios (Venezuela) and Aldo Pellegrini (Argentina). Moreover, the article points out that each country was allowed to invite up to 12 painters to participate, each of who would be expected to submit three works. Most of the countries had 7 to 12 representatives. Ecuador’s group was well below the limit established, with only two artists representing the country. Colombia, on the other hand, was an exception to the rule, with a consignment that represented the works of 14 artists. The article also calls attention to some of the documents that accompanied the Biennial and talks about the optimism with which “the South American press has welcomed this ambitious achievement.”Gacetika was IKA’s journal, published since 1958 by the company’s public relations office. The editor of the IKA journal was Christian Sörenson, who [was] also director of the BAA and IKA’s Public Relations Manager.
