This document summarizes the proposals submitted by the participants at the Primer Encuentro Iberoamericano de Críticos de Arte y Artistas Plásticos who were sitting at work table number two. Referring to the subject “Criticism, Theory, and Research in Latin American Visual Arts,” the participants presented four specific proposals. The first of these was focused on the critic’s practice and ethics; the second, concerning “communicating vessels,” suggested mechanisms for the implementation and operation of a system for gathering information and documentation of the visual arts in Latin America; the third proposed that teaching and museographic work be included in the critic’s practice; the fourth and final proposal suggested the need for a subsequent meeting to establish mechanisms for a unique system for the classification of documentary materials and an exchange of information.  

The proposals and suggestions presented in this document portray Latin America as being united and defined by similar cultural needs, striving for international standards in terms of theory and criticism for Latin American visual arts, as well as in terms of the safekeeping and classification of documentary materials that are relevant to its cultural heritage. Following up on this idea, the participants charged the recently founded CIDAPAL (Centro de Investigación, Documentación y Difusión de las Artes Plásticas de América Latina, a now defunct Venezuelan institution) with coordinating such efforts between Latin American countries.    

The Primer Encuentro Iberoamericano de Críticos de Arte y Artistas Plásticos was held in 1978 at the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas. In addition to the coordinator Marta Arjona, other important figures in the fields of art criticism and art itself were at the event, including Jorge Alberto Manrique, Marta Traba (see “La tradición de lo nacional” [doc. no. 815744]), Juan Acha (“La actual división técnica del trabajo artístico en América Latina” [doc. no. 815489]), Carlos Areán (“Iberoamérica y su identidad artística y cultural” [doc. no. 815730]), Julio Le Parc (“Interrogantes” [doc. no. 815575]), Carlos Rodríguez Saavedra, Jacqueline Barnitz, Berta Taracena (“Elementos constantes en el arte iberoamericano” [doc. no. 815558]), Ida Rodríguez Prampolini (“Dadá y América Latina” [doc. no. 815758]), Antonio Berni (“No puedo dejar de destacar la importancia de este encuentro” [doc. no. 815659]), Roberto Montero Castro (“Arte e identidad: métodos institucionales en el desarrollo cultural venezolano” [doc. no. 815631]), Marco Miliani, Alirio Rodríguez, Jorge Glusberg (“Aproximación metodológica para una comprensión de la retórica del arte latinoamericano” [doc. no. 815475]), Élida Román (“El rol del crítico” [doc. no. 815617]), Adelaida de Juan (“Cuba: revolución y plástica” [doc. no. 815544]), Galaor Carbonell (“Hacia la eventual incidencia de la revista de arte latinoamericano en nuestra identificación” [doc. no. 815603]), Roberto Pontual, and Aracy A. Amaral.

The “Austin Symposium” was an important forerunner to this event. The Symposium was organized by Damián C. Bayón and held at the University of Texas at Austin in late October 1975. Many of the participants at the 1978 Encuentro had attended the Austin Symposium, which led to much discussion about the shared experience. Bayón later published a book about the Austin Symposium: El artista latinoamericano y su identidad (Caracas: Monte Ávila Editores, Colección Estudios, 1977; 150 pp. illustrated in black & white).

It is important to note that the lectures delivered at the Museo de Bellas Artes in 1978 had not been published at that point, though some were subsequently included in monographs or anthologies. They therefore possess great documentary value as primary source material.