Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

In this essay, the artist and performer Clemente Padín explains the concept of “street art and urban art” following the alternative art exhibition, Tomarte, held in the city of Rosario, Argentina, in April 1990, with the pretense [...]

This essay is about an invitation that was extended to Clemente Padín by the Yellow Springs Institute (USA) to perform at the gathering of Latin American artists held in October of 1989, resulting from information on the event. The artist, in an [...]

This is a critical review of the I Bienal de Artes Plásticas that was held at the Subte Municipal de Montevideo, an exhibition space in the capital city of Uruguay, in 1992. The author explicitly acknowledges Clemente Padín for his presentation of [...]

In this article Clemente Padín discusses the historical development of performance art in Europe and in North America. He also refers to specific examples to describe the nature of this action art as practiced in Latin America. He believes [...]

In this essay, critic and performer Silvio de Gracia explains the importance of and provides context for “action art” in Latin America. He demonstrates its specificity in the region, showing how it differs from similar tendencies in Europe and [...]

In this text, artist and essayist Francisco Tomsich interviews Clemente Padín about his artistic career and the performance he did at the Boxing Club de Barrio Sur in Montevideo in 1987 in which he condemned the forced disappearance of individuals [...]

In an artistic “manifesto” published on a flier to be handed out to the audience, Teresa Vila explains the aims of her “action art,” also called “actions with theme,” which had political and media impact in Uruguay in the sixties. Her [...]

In the text “Invitación al sacrificio” [An Invitation to Sacrifice], commentator Alejandro Torres discusses the poetic quality of the staging and production in the work of the Mapa Teatro collective directed by Colombian artist Rolf Abderhalden [...]

In connection with the exhibition Antología del desarraigo (1992), the curator Katherine Chacón writes about the career of the Venezuelan mixed-media artist, Ángel Vivas Arias. The writer highlights the duality of mysticism and nature evident [...]

Researcher Ana de Azcárate analyzes the art of Sandra Vivas from her early production through 2004. De Azcárate points out constants in Vivas’s work, such as feminism and machismo, the use of her own body in performances and in videos, and the [...]

Curator Jesús Fuenmayor explores the work of Venezuelan artist Diana López on the basis of her participation in an annual show at PS 1 Contemporary Art Center, in New York. The theme López presented for that show was the result of her experiences [...]

In this essay about the Venezuelan communicator, dramatist, and performance artist Marco Antonio Ettedgui, Elsa Flores discusses his work as a body artist. Flores explains that, in Ettedgui’s events, the act of communicating and educating is just [...]

The creator of the work “Ida Píngala II,” Alfred Wenemoser, wrote a text organized into two parts describing the work, which was shown at the Bienal de São Paulo in 1981. In the first part, the artist summarizes in six steps the content of his [...]

This essay was written by the artist Rosemberg Sandoval as the introduction to the exhibition catalogue Dibujos sobre lona, video e instalación, Rosemberg Sandoval that was organized by the Galería Casas Riegner in 2009. In his essay, Sandoval [...]

“Cuerpo final: el máximo lienzo” [Final Body: The Ultimate Canvas], an article written by Santiago Echeverry, appeared in the second edition of Clave 019–17, the magazine published by Multimedia Creation Major in the art department at the [...]

In 2008, Raúl Naranjo wrote “Reflexiones, acciones y artefactos. Obras Raúl Naranjo 1997?2008,” a presentation and brief description of his work in the performance genre from 1997 until 2004. The text contains three parts. In the first, Naranjo [...]

This text by Colombian curator and critic Miguel González was among the materials included in the catalogue Rosemberg Sandoval reflexionarte X Festival Internacional de Arte de Cali, published in 2001 in conjunction with an event sponsored by the [...]

Entitled “Por devoción al arte,” this article published on April 18, 1994 was written by Olga Marín Arango, editor of La guía, the cultural section of the Bogotá-based newspaper El Espectador. It reviews the Primer Premio del XXXV Salón [...]

The Colombian artist Rosemberg Sandoval took part in the Simposio sobre la situación social, política y artística en Colombia [Symposium on the Social, Political, and Artistic Situation in Colombia], organized by the Fundación Daros Latinamerica [...]

This is the published record of the conversation that ensued when Hans-Michael Herzog, the curator of the Fundación Daros Latinamerica [Daros Latinamerica Foundation] interviewed Rosemberg Sandoval. The interview shows how the Colombian artist’s [...]

The article PerfoArtNet. Encuentro Internacional de Performance [PerfoArtNet: International Performance Meeting], written by Ricardo Arcos-Palma was published in the Vistazos Críticos [Critical Views] section of the online edition of the Colombian [...]

This article appeared in the fortnightly newspaper Última Página [Last Page], published in the city of Barranquilla, four months after the prize at the VIII Salón Regional Zona Norte [Eighth Regional Salon, Northern Zone] was [...]

This article by Juan David Medina, a member of the Helena Producciones art group, addresses the debate prompted by the III Festival de Performance [Third Festival of Performance Art] held in October 1999 at the Museo de Arte Moderno La Tertulia, a [...]

In the interview conducted by the Colombian journal Vice Versa, Juan Fernando Mejía and Wilson Díaz have the opportunity to talk about their artistic beginnings, joint projects, and themes that interest them. They also discuss the [...]

Written by Carolina Ponce de León under the title “El salón de la extravagancia,” this document was published in the “Nuestra Época” section of the Bogotá daily newspaper El Espectador, on May 8, 1994. It was written as a criticism of the [...]

This article written by Rodrigo Zuleta was published in the newspaper La prensa, on January 5, 1989. In it, the writer explains how the life experience of the Colombian artist, María Angélica Medina, has included being a mother, daughter, and [...]

These documents written by Dioscórides Pérez consist of two texts published in the catalogue Tránsito (2001). Both articles serve as a report on the performance La lección de anatomía (2000), presented by the writer himself, working with the Dé [...]

This news piece, written by Laurian Puerta Ordóñez, was published on July 28, 1997, in the newspaper El Heraldo, in the city of Barranquilla. The article acknowledges the first prize at the VIII Salón Regional de Artistas Zona Norte awarded to [...]

In this newspaper article, Alberto Llerena recounts the career of Alfonso Suárez Ciodaro, placing emphasis on the three works for which he received honorable mentions at three consecutive regional and nationwide art salons (from 1995 to 1998). [...]

In his “Columna de arena” (an online column of art criticism), José Ignacio Roca discusses the performance La incapacidad adquirida de escapar [The Acquired Inability to Escape] by Guillermo Marín at the Alianza Colombo-Francesa in Bogotá, [...]

The manuscript by María José Arjona entitled “Proyecto Abierto 360º ejercicios sobre la imagen (obra en proceso)” was written as a proposal for the traveling exhibition Actos de Fabulación (2000), curated by Consuelo Pabón. The proposal [...]

The article “El performance en Colombia a finales del siglo XX. Apuntes sobre una investigación de una generación olvidada,” (2007), was published in the second issue of Reflector, a virtual publication that specialized in film and theater [...]

The article “Arte a flor de piel” was published in the “Culture” section of the Bogotá newspaper El Tiempo on May 18, 2001, on the occasion of the opening of the fourth Festival de Performance de Cali at the Museo La Tertulia on May 20. The [...]

This text by María Inés Rodríguez was published in the Catálogo General de Exposiciones de la Alianza Francesa de Bogotá under the title “Nuevas Propuestas Arte en Colombia 2005–2006.”It provides information about Cuando el Rio Suena, an [...]

This article entitled “Los Siete Ganadores de los Salones Regionales” was published in the “Lecturas de fin de semana,” or weekend readings section of the Bogotá newspaper El Tiempo, on November 4, 2001. It consists of brief texts on the [...]

In this article, visual artist Humberto Junca provides a powerful critical analysis of Rosemberg Sandoval’s solo exhibition, entitled Acciones Políticas, held at Casas Riegner gallery in Bogotáin 2008. The author divides the text into three [...]

This text is the closing chapter of Consuelo Pabón’s essay “Actos de Fabulación. Arte, Cuerpo y Pensamiento Año 2000: Memorias de una Itinerancia.” In 2005, it was awarded the prize given by the Colombian Ministerio de Cultura to a [...]

In this text, Consuelo Pabón provides a detailed chronological description and a curatorial rereading of the actions that formed part of the project Actos de Fabulación – Arte, Cuerpo y Pensamiento (2000), an exhibition that toured different [...]

This document is the postcard produced to publicize the call for submissions organized by the Helena Producciones collective for the seventh edition of the Festival de Performance of Cali. It was released to the public on May 23, 2008 at an event [...]

In this text, curator and critic Jaime Cerón praises HelenaProducciones for having organized the Festival de Performance of Cali (1990-2009). He describes the historical context for the collective’s important social and artistic work in the [...]

The five lectures given by Gilberto Freyre in his city of Recife and in São Paulo comprise this book. The one theme that tied all five lectures together was the imperative need to instill a tropical equatorial Portuguese Brazilian lifestyle. In a [...]

In this essay Sangirardi Jr. writes about Flávio de Carvalho. The author mentions eccentric aspects of the artist’s career, such as his controversial utopian expeditions and his bizarre ideas. Contrary to what most people think, all these very [...]

The artist Antonio Manuel describes two works that were conceived for an exhibition at the MAM-RJ (Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro) in 1973, an event that the museum canceled on the eve of its opening in an attempt to avoid “difficult [...]

In this text, Colombian artist Juan Mejía recounts in the first person his experience at the Primer Festival Municipal de Performance y Acción Plástica(1997) in the city of Cali. As an organizer and as a viewer of the event, Mejía describes in [...]

This text is the second chapter in the book Festival de Performance de Cali-Colombia (2006) published by the Helena Producciones collective. In it, the collective’s cofounder, artist Wilson Díaz, describes the academic and social context from 1996 [...]

The synopsis and the annotations in English are coming soon.                                However, our bilingual readers can click on “Español” to access this information in Spanish [...]

The synopsis and the annotations in English are coming soon.                                However, our bilingual readers can click on “Español” to access this information in Spanish [...]

The synopsis and the annotations in English are coming soon.    However, our bilingual readers can click on “Español” to access this information in Spanish [...]

The article “¡Que viva ‘La novia’ que viva!” was published in the Culture – Entertainment section of the Bogotá newspaper El Tiempo on September 16, 1997 on the occasion of the performance of La novia ( [...]

The synopsis and the annotations in English are coming soon.                                However, our bilingual readers can click on “Español” to access this information in Spanish [...]