|
Text
written for Trama’s first publication. Buenos Aires, 2001.
Any reflection about the state of
the field of the visual arts(1)
on the last decade in Argentina, will inevitably face the question
regarding the reasons for the dissociation in three separate compartments
of the theoretical or histographic discourses; the artistic criticism
discourses and the discourses "under construction" (the
artistic productions or interventions). What do I mean by this? University
research on art history and theory treasure a thorough body of knowledge
that hardly goes beyond the tight Academy walls, while cultural officers
and art critics consecrated by the media repeat and adapt their clichés
to the best bidder and artists delegate the theory on others, considering
it an imposed intrusion in catalogues that says little, if anything,
about the works (which frequently ends up being an accurate judgement).
A triple-aisle of parallel lines that, challenging the theorem, never
cross each other.
Of course there are exceptions to this gross outline that I am giving,
and not few of them. Besides, I dare suggest there are symptoms –though
limited– that something is changing. The very recognition of
these territorial boundaries, somehow triggers -in an incipient way-
to imagine bridges, incursions, links, fusions, contaminations, and
debates that can provide renewed blood to our self-referential practices
and interventions in the art field.
What signs am I referring to? I will list some facts, with no particular
order or hierarchy. One: Santiago García Navarro (2)
analyses the uprising of a series of "theoretical
young artists" who encourage "the appearance and consolidation
of diverse alternative places" and stands for the polyphony of
the critic in the graphic media. Two: some thorough historical studies
have reached public state (through publications or exhibition curatorship),
which make Gonzalo Aguilar suggest that we are facing "an inflection
in the Argentine [cultural] critic." (3)
Even the corporate initiative of a bank supporting the Argentine art,
spreads some of the voices of the Academic world, both in luxurious
formats and in massive collectable booklets. Three: some meetings,
round tables and public debates are gathering people who (restricted
to one of these three areas) had never even heard of each other before,
and now are planning common strategies. Four:
|
|
|
Clement Moreau's illustration
|
the so far eighteen numbers of "Ramona"
magazine point out –among other things– a "writing
eagerness" within artists, by which some critics and art historians
have felt threatened. Five: the very existence of Trama appears
as the generator of a favourable environment in which a group of artists
could attempt to construct theory based on their own production. This
enumeration could go on, but I will leave it here.
2
If the mentioned divorce between theory and practice could be attributable
to the education (mainly practical) of the artists in art schools
and workshops, and the education (exclusively theoretical) of university
art historians, it is convenient to consider that other contexts
(the Chilean university system, for instance) are clearly different.
In that sense, it might be useful to introduce here the distinction
made by the French Pierre Baqué among research on the visual
arts, investigation by the visual arts and investigation
in the visual arts(4).
The first stage concerns aesthetics, art history and sociology,
and appeals to a certain method or rigour that claims to be scientific.
The second stage concerns the artists, as they must build their
creation, invent it. Here, the method is at any rate defined by
each artist. The third, research in the visual arts, combines or
integrates the two previous stages. If the purpose is to create
a work of art, this will be at the same time the support of an investigation.
Blaqué says about this: "the procedure is more complex.
In perspective: a concern, then an idea, and finally a subject,
a theme, a problem, a method in which practice and theory converge,
in which one or many answers to the initial questions are worked
out."
3
The obvious true that the last dictatorship had among its most persisting
effects the block-out of the collective memory has, in the artistic
field, a form that is not so easily recognisable: the impossibility
of establishing dialogues, relationships, genealogies between contemporary
art and artists, and the events that took place not so long ago
(at least in terms of years.)
An obstacle –inevitable until not far ago to those who intended
to walk any of the paths that lead to the revision of these inter-artistic
links– was the destruction, the absence or the privatisation
of archives and files in which one could have access to the necessary
documentation to face this task. Nowadays, public –but not
governmental– initiatives, such as those of Fundación
Espigas or the CeDInCI (that covers a not so specific but also
relevant spectrum in relationship with the visual arts) at least
mitigate the difficulty as regards the consulting of the sources.
The essence of the problem falls nowadays mainly in the manner in
which the ideas circulate and in the ways in which they reach legitimacy.
In this respect, I believe we should highlight the strong political
mark implicit in the forced discourse regarding the dis-politicization
of the art history. In the following pages, I will try to clarify
this point, as it concerns the ways of reading that, from the present,
define the sense(s) of the past.
4
One of the dimensions that generally remains concealed, both in
the art and in the political history in Argentina, is the one that
points at the complex connections between the visual arts and the
different expressions of the left during the 20th century. At his
stage, it cannot be said that the existing historiography hides
or denies the fact that Berni kept a changing but intense connection
with the Communist party, just to mention an essential character
of Argentine art. But it is evident that the political aspect becomes
irrelevant; it is considered as merely accidental or anecdotal and
not so much as a dimension that is present not only in artist’s
life but in his work and his positioning in the artistic field.
Throughout the different scenarios of the past century, the art
history interlaces with the history of the lefts in different ways,
generating a common body of production, circulation and reception
of cultural products. It is not a peaceful connection, but a path
full of tension, conflict and affinity, public debate and secret
support. The reconstruction of the most outstanding moments of this
concurrence is a complex task and it is mostly a pending issue.
The reasons for this postponement are of various kinds. The historiography
of art, that has a predominantly esthetical outlook that avoids
the "contamination" of its object, tends to relegate,
ignore or diminish the political dimension of the positioning of
the artists and their productions. At the same time, in the political
historiography, artistic issues are regarded as merely ornamental,
illustrations of the word, ignoring their revolting potential and
specificity. More specifically, the very history of the Argentine
left is mostly a pending issue, in spite of the fact that their
political and cultural role has been relevant in "the creation
of unions, associations and cooperatives, in activism and cultural
diffusion as well as in their political participation in
the most outstanding events of this century, as the "Semana
Trágica" and the "Cordobazo." (5)
It is therefore important to consider in the analysis the situation
of the visual artists within the artistic field, their participation,
production, the circulation channels of their work, the critic it
received, the ideas regarding the artistic production with which
they agreed or debated, etc. As regards the "lefts", the
use of the plural is to show the diversity of elements that can
be considered within the term. Not only in connection with political
party organisations and their public or official cultural politics
but also understanding "the culture of the lefts" in a
wider sense; the circulation of people and ideas (libertarian, anarchist,
socialist, communist, trotskyist, foquist, maoist, etc.) within
certain cultural environments, the disputes and polemics generated
as well as its repercussions and pressures on the artistic activity.
That is to say, that the task would include a re-reading of the
existing historiography as well as the exploration of novel aspects
regarding the meeting of two dimensions: the artistic and the politics
of the lefts, in certain milestones of the last century. The starting
assumption is that this is a tense relationship, full of shades,
comings and goings, but that it undoubtedly brings forth a productive
and illuminating aspect regarding the positions and productions
that so far have been overlooked or just glanced over. All this
could lead into a re-writing of (some aspects of) the history of
the Argentine art in the last century from a new perspective, unravelling
aesthetic-political aspects, productions, practices, artists and
ideas that have been left aside or just barely looked at, up to
now.
5
Some of the key moments in the history of the Argentine art of the
20th century acquire a new dimension when considering their intersecting
and overlapping with the politics of the lefts. These are some of
the milestones in the cultural history in which the articulation
of arts and politics attempted to surpass, by different means and
limits, the traditional artistic practice, and tended to inscribe
it in life, frequently implying a reformulation, not only of the
ways of producing art, but also of the ways of doing politics. An
approach that is limited to considering only the "autonomous"
aspects of the artistic field will leave aside aspects such as:
The artists’ intention that their own productions could intervene
as tools in the political or social struggle.
The implicit or explicit directives that political organisations
issued to artists engaged in or close to their lines, and how this
influenced their productions by favouring certain languages, genres
and formats; how it determined the circulation of their works; how
it stimulated or discouraged their work.
The connection between the artistic and the political avant-garde;
the overlapping and debates of which are fruitful and give rise
to totally novel experiences.
Which are –broadly speaking– these scenarios, that could
be more accurately and correctly defined in a future research program?
The production and position in the artistic field of the "Artistas
del Pueblo". The influence of the aesthetic ideas of Proudhon,
Bakunin, Tolstoi, Renan and Kropotkin in the Argentine anarchism.
The influence of the ideas on art of Sorel, Berth and Pelloutier
in the anarchic-syndicalism. The graphic and plastic proposal of
"La protesta" and other anarchistic publications:
opening to the avant-garde aesthetics. The preponderance of graphics
and prints as political art formats. In contrast to the "avant-garde
attitude" the "Artistas del Pueblo" disdain the experimentation
within the plastic language, building a proposal fastened to already
surpassed esthetical criteria. But this observation is not enough:
one has to consider its definition of an art with social and political
intentions, that implies the personal commitment of the artist,
who puts
|
|
Dirigente sindical
Tristán's illustration
|
himself at the disposal
of workers’ organisations, defining as from that intention
the formats, the means and the techniques to be applied, the circulation
channels, etc. It is also necessary to examine
their interventions in the artistic field against the Academy, which
entailed the rupture of those with the most radical positions with
the "art institution" in the twenties. (6)
Artistic avant-garde and political avant-garde in the twenties.
There should be an analysis of the opposition of two mutually excluding
poles within the renovation (Florida versus Boedo, art for the art
itself versus committed art), in their border zones and intersections.
Connections between the avant-garde groups and the anarchising political
positions. The impact of the Russian revolution on the cultural
field. The esthetical proposal of magazines like Martin Fierro,
Prisma, Claridad.
In the thirties, the leftist modernity finds its formulation in
an avant-garde note: the formal preoccupations merge with the political
preoccupations. The influence of the Communist Party and the aesthetic
doctrine of Plejanov. "Organic" artists and "road
mates". Intellectual support to the Spanish Republic, impact
of the Civil War and the arrival of the republican exiles. The aesthetic
theory of Elías Castelnuovo ("El Arte y las Masas",
Buenos Aires, Claridad, c. 1933). The aesthetic ideas of Héctor
Raurich. The Antonio Berni’s case, the "New Realism"
and the "Mutualidad" (Rosario). At his return from Europe,
Berni considers that the formal transformations are not enough to
give rise to a true artistic revolution, and intends to build, along
with a group of young Rosarine experimental artists, an aesthetic
that combines "the new" with the revolutionary utopia.
As from there, he defends the reflecting of the real world (the
social evils: unemployment, misery, war) giving rise to the formulation
of the New Realism. The positions on arts and politics of Facio
Hebecquer. The incidence of Siqueiros and the propagation of the
muralism as the dogma of political art.
The abstract art that appeared in the forties as the new avant-garde.
The group gathered around the magazine Arturo, the "Madi"
experience (for Dialectic Materialism), the "Asociación
de Arte Concreto-Invención". Tomás Maldonado
and the impact of the utopian ideas of the Bauhaus. Raúl
Lozza´s "perceptismo". Polemics and rupture with
the Communist Party of the group lead by Cayetano Córdova
Iturburu. Survival of Lozza in the party rows in times of the "socialist
realism" dogma.
By the end of the sixties, a new avant-garde rises, connected to
the modernising institutional circuit, and in articulation with
the bloom of the cultural New Left. Incidence of the ideas on art
of Marxist thinkers as Althusser, Gramsci, Della Volpe. New ruptures
with the Communist Party: the experience of "La Rosa Blindada"
and "Pasado y Presente". Impact of the Cuban Revolution
on the cultural field. Rupture of a part of the avant-garde with
the "Instituto Di Tella," and displacement to the "CGT
de los Argentinos," the carrying out of "Tucumán
Arde." Definition of a "New Aesthetic," inscribed
in the revolutionary process. Other manifestations of the "ideological
conceptualism" in the early seventies. Strategies of the political
art within and outside the institutional boundaries. Art on times
of armed violence.
As from the eighties, street visual interventions and urban action
take place in connection with human rights’ mobilisations.
Silhouettes, handkerchiefs, hands and other images that lay in the
city landscape the reference/invocation to the "detained-disappeared"
Argentines. The experience of "CAPATACO," "GASTAR"
and other political art groups. The mail-art as an alternative to
the ordinary circuits and canonical formats. The production of Edgardo
Vigo. Art in photocopies. Contemporary groups of political art in
the streets: "Grupo de Arte Callejero y Etcétera"
(Buenos Aires), "Costuras Urbanas" (Córdoba), "En
Tránsito" (Rosario).
However, this list is arbitrary and risky in its inclusions and
omissions. It does not intend to be more than a draft to be debated,
in the hypothesis (or bet) that there could be a tendency to conform
a network of research (research on, by and in)
for a critical assessment on the issue.
6
To round up, I would like to propose some topics or force-ideas
that appear repeatedly when thinking of the connections between
art and politics.
The tension between formal renovation and social content, between
artistic avant-garde and political commitment, present in the productions,
reflections and public
interventions of the
artists. This dilemma is not only manifest in the conscience of
the creators, but it is also patent in their productions, in the
artistic means they choose, the circuits in which exhibit their
works, the public they address. It is not necessarily a matter of
choice between one end of the disjunctive or the other; it is about
developing a set of complex and frequently contradictory strategies,
within or in the boundaries of the artistic field. Sometimes, there
are attempts to resolve this tension by searching for a new aesthetic,
not only for the repertory of themes, procedures and artistic materials,
but also for its insertion/inscription in a reformist or revolutionary
project –utopian or immediate.
It is more than productive to bare in mind the polemics around the
representation of the political content in art, the debates about
realism and abstraction, the effects (in the works, and in the discourse
about the works) of the "socialist realism" dogma, its
promoters, displacements, reformulation, detractors and followers.
In connection with the avant-garde utopias that claim to transform
art and life, they are questioning the autonomy of art, understood
as the loss of the function of art within the bourgeois society.
The avant-gardists’ aspiration is to reinsert art in life,
so as to overcome that breach (as pointed out by Bürger in
the mentioned text). These attempts, of high political-utopian potential,
frequently take up the form of a radical change of language, the
search for a new public and specially the impetus to contributing
from the art to change society.
The relationship art/politics also faces a tension focus in the
function that politics confers to art. The granting of a place of
propaganda or of celebration of the political lyrics has often contended
with the aspiration of the most absolute creative freedom. There
is frequently an inclination to harmonise the creative power of
the individual with the imaginative impulse of society.
What appears as evident in view of this diversity of problems to
be considered is the heterogeneity of formal resolutions of the
so-called "political art". Whenever there is an attempt
to regard art as a mere tool for propaganda, a collection of works
and lives resist it –sometimes mute, sometimes paradoxical,
sometimes giggling– awaiting new approaches. Approaches that
do not fail to acknowledge what they carry of the prejudices of
their time when drawing near excesses.
|
Teacher and researcher at UBA, University of
Buenos Aires, member of the board of directors of CeDInCI (Center
for the documentation and research of culture of the left-wing in
Argentina), co-writer of the book "Del Di Tella a Tucumán
Arde" (Buenos Aires, El cielo por asalto, 2000) and "De
los poetas malditos al videoclip" (Buenos Aires, Cántaro,
1998).
|
