Curator and art critic Élida Román divides her presentation into two parts. She first tries to define not only the objective of art criticism but also to identify the craft and reach of art critics.  Román then presents a diagnosis on the situation of Latin America in relation to the defined objective. After enumerating the negative aspects, she then proposes a series of options and solutions in order to imbue the role of the critic with an “ethical responsibility.” In short, “her proposal entails demonstrating that the function of a critic is to expose the ‘what’ and the ‘how,’” prior to producing an analysis within a specific context and going in search of latent meanings dependent on the receptive capacity of any individual

In this presentation by the Peruvian curator and art critic Élida Román what is most striking is that instead of proposing a series of strategies to improve the credibility of the Latin American art critic and/or critique, she is more intent on establishing a series of ethical guidelines for art critics.   

The Primer Encuentro Iberoamericano de Críticos de Arte y Artistas Plásticos was held in 1978 at the Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas. In addition to Élida Román, other colleagues and figures relevant to the art world who were in attendance included Jorge Alberto Manrique, Jorge Glusberg [see doc. no. 815475], Juan Acha [doc. no. 815489], Julio Le Parc, Adelaida de Juan [doc. no. 815544], Carlos Rodríguez Saavedra, Jacqueline Barnitz, Berta Taracena [doc. no. 815558], Antonio Berni, Galaor Carbonell, Marco Miliani, Alirio Rodríguez, Roberto Montero Castro [doc. no. 815631], Marta Traba [doc. no. 815744], Ida Rodríguez Prampolini, Carlos Areán, Roberto Puntual and Aracy A. Amaral.

An important antecedent to the event was the “Austin Symposium” organized by Damián C. Bayón and the University of Texas at Austin, at the end of October, 1975. Many of the participants that attended the 1978 Primer Encuentro Iberoamericano de Críticos de Arte y Artistas Plásticos attended the symposium in Austin, which resulted as background for common discussion. The proceedings of the event were published in Venezuela by Damian C. Bayón (as a rapporteur) in El artista latinoamericano y su identidad (Caracas: Monte Ávila Editores, Colección Estudios, 1977; 150 pp in black and white).

It is important to note the fact that though some of the presentations delivered during the gathering have subsequently been included in monographic or anthological compilations, they were all unpublished at the time of the 1978 event at the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas. Due to this fact, these presentations are primary sources of great documentary value.