Within the context of the historic reparation received by Gabriela Bocchi—who created Celda [Cell] in tandem with Jorge de Santa María (deceased)—and by Hugo Pereyra—who in turn conceived Made in Argentina with Ignacio Colombres (deceased)—Giudici’s article points out that those two political works of art expressed the courage of their authors and, at that time, constituted “a slap” in the face to the illegitimate authorities in Argentina. He also considers these to be two works of art because of their visual concept and their dramatic message. Giudici further remarks that an artist such as Luis Felipe Noé, who was present during the ceremony, has recognized that in 1971 these works also exemplified a high degree of formal innovation.

In Argentina, the Salón Nacional de Artes Plásticas [National Salon of Visual Art] was created in 1911 and, with the passing of time its bylaws were changed to meet its needs. Both the 1968 and 1969 Salón Nacional included the section “Visual Research,” whose purpose was to cover new forms of experimental art (kinetic objects, Pop Art, and so forth). In 1970 and 1971, it turned into the Annual Competition of Visual Research in 1970 and 1971. In the II Certamen Nacional de Investigaciones Visuales[Second National Competition of Visual Research]—which took place under the de facto government of General Alejandro Agustín Lanusse (1971–73)—the two pieces that had been awarded the Gran Premio de Honor [Great Honorable Prize] and Primer Premio [First Prize] were censored by Decree 5695/71 of the Executive Branch. The authorities excluded from the exhibition and considered “unacceptable” these awarded pieces, due to their “obvious ideological intent,” thus declaring void both decisions by the jury. These measures caused outrage among artists and some cultural organizations, and spurred several legal causes.

Alberto Giudici is a member of theAsociación Argentina de Críticos de Arte and curator of contemporary art shows. He writes criticism for Clarín, a morning newspaper with a developmental-ist orientation, founded in Argentina by Roberto Noble on August 28, 1945.

This document records the acknowledgement, after more than thirty years, by the Argentinean Government of the artists censored in the II Certamen Nacional de Investigaciones Visuales carried out in1971. It is interesting to note that Luis Felipe Noé was a member of the jury that chose the 1971 Prizewinners. This source is linked to the chain of reactions generated by said act of censorship.