Presentation
Attraction. Scene. Energy. Internationalism. Destination. Artistic production in the 1960s looked to New York. The center for the development of visual arts during the second half of the 20th century, the American city attracted many artists whose interests had flowed through Europe - birthplace of the historic avant-gardes - and went to live in the Big Apple, epicenter of change and experimentation.
Starting July 24 and lasting until September 30, Fundación Proa presents Imán: Nueva York, a historic exhibition curated by Rodrigo Alonso that brings together the productions of prominent local artists. Pieces, projects, documents, books and photographs reconstruct a period of crucial interchanges for the visual consciousness of that time, in which many Argentine artists traveled to New York while Buenos Aires also entertained curators and artists.
In an interview published in the exhibition catalog, Luis Felipe Noé comments: “When I traveled with Jorge de la Vega to France, I realized that we here were talking about Paris and in Paris they were talking about New York.”
Imán: Nueva York explores the projects and works completed in Buenos Aires that reached the level of significant international presence, and presents an overview to reflect on the role of institutions at a moment in which a new form of producing, generating and disseminating contemporary art was being born.
The Guggenheim Fellowships, the Instituto Di Tella, the Córdoba Bienales Americanas de Arte, the Buenos Aires Museo de Arte Moderno, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and the Bonino Gallery in New York are the institutions that lead this interchange. This exhibition examines the 60s and presents the transformation of local art from lyrical to geometric abstraction, and from there to conceptual art, reconsidering the dialogue with the hegemonic centers.
The exhibition’s title, Imán: Nueva York, alludes to the legendary 1964 exhibition in New York’s Bonino Gallery, which reflected the magnetic draw of the city for many Latin American artists.
The artists on display are Marcelo Bonevardi, Ary Brizzi, Delia Cancela/Pablo Mesejean, Eduardo Costa, Jaime Davidovich, Jorge de la Vega, José Antonio Fernández Muro, Grupo Frontera, Nicolás García Uriburu, Sarah Grilo, Leandro Katz, Kenneth Kemble, David Lamelas, Gabriel Messil, Eduardo Mac Entyre, María Martorell, Fernando Maza, Marta Minujín, Honorio Morales, Luis Felipe Noé, César Paternosto, Rogelio Polesello, Alejandro Puente, Liliana Porter, Eduardo Rodríguez, Kazuya Sakai, Carlos Silva, Juan Stoppani, Osvaldo Romberg, Miguel Angel Vidal and Luis Wells.
An intense program of parallel activities, including the presence of artists and critics, and the inclusion of an invaluable catalog ensure the role of Imán: Nueva York as an exhibition that is historic in its reflective value and contribution to the international discussion on the decade of the 60s.
Fundación Proa appreciates the contribution of works and documents from public and private institutions, as well as collectors and documentation centers. To the artists, for their generous dialogue which enabled the reconstruction of history’s path, and to Tenaris – Organización Techint for their ongoing support.
Curador
Rodrigo Alonso
Asistentes
Bárbara Golubicki
Aimé Iglesias Lukin
Producción
Cmila Jurado
Maia Persico
Conservación
Teresa Gowland
Elena Romashova
Diseño y Montaje
Fundación PROA
Asistentes
Luis María Ducasse
Mariano Ferrante
Diego Mur
Prestadores
Malba-Colección Constantini, Buenos Aires
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Comercio Internacional y Culto, Argentina
Museo Superior de Bellas Artes Evita
Palacio Ferreyra, Cordoba
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Fundación Espigas
Archivos Di Tella, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella
Sergio Baur
Jorge y Marion Helft
Rubén Fontana
Galería Vasari
Julieta Kemble
Familia Messil
Luis Felipe Noé
Algo de Sousa Gallery
Juan Carlos Romero
Pedro Roth
Silvina y Gustavo Teller
Gracias al apoyo de