The Salón Nacional de Artes Plásticas [National Salon for the Visual Arts] of Argentina was founded in 1911; its regulations varied over time, depending on the needs [of the moment]. The Salón Nacional for the years 1968 and 1969 included a section called “Visual Arts Research.” The category sought to include the new formats of experimental art (kinetic objects, Pop art, and the like). In 1970 and 1971, it led to the implementation of Certamen Anual de Investigaciones Visuales.
The Certamen Nacional de Investigaciones Visuales—which was held during the de facto government of General Alejandro Agustín Lanusse (1971–73)—resulted in the censorship of the artworks that had won the Grand Prize and the First Prize. By means of Executive Order 5696/71, the authorities excluded those prize-winning works from the exhibition, stating they were “not accepted” due to their “manifest ideological intent.” Thus they declared the grand and first prizes awarded by the jury null and void. These deeds fostered the repudiation of artists as well as some cultural organizations, and gave rise to various legal actions.
Así was a magazine founded by Héctor Ricardo García. The publication went through various periods and during the 1970s, it reported on general interest topics with a certain degree of sensationalism.
This article was selected because it documents the censorship of the II Certamen de Investigaciones Visuales in 1971; it is linked to the series of reactions that this event provoked among artists, intellectuals and the public who denounced the lack of freedom of expression as well as the censorship that prevailed during the military administration.
