Kalias ”, Este libro , Fondo de Cultura Recuerdos de España The Hispanic American , n. 83, dic-enero 2005, en la ', en Choque, Órgano de la Amadises de América. La hazaña de Casa del tiempo , Consejo Nacional de la Cultura, México ', en La invención de América ico de la investigación'. RODRIGUEZ, Ida. , cit., p. 15 , Duke University Press, 1949, pp: 386-388 y firmada 29. Cita 21. , Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza, 2014, p. 19. Irving A. Leonard, un historiador del colonialismo muy en sintonía con Irving A. Leonard, un historiador del colonialismo muy en sintonía O’GORMAN, Edmundo, Ibid., p: RODRÍGUEZ PRAMPOLINI, Ida, Así lo señala una reseña de su libro aparecida en TUDELILLA LAGUARDIA, Chus, Goeritz, Mathias. 4. 16. Económica FCE, México 1958, p. 9. 17. Ibid., pp: 27-40. 18. Ibid., pp: 42-43. 19. Ibid., pp: 146-147. 20. Ibid., p. 79. 21. Indias como1948. empresa caballeresca22. Historicalpor Review las ideas de Edmundo O’Gorman. 23. 'Al estudiar las crónicas y demás textos que me sirven apoyo, me guía de el sentimiento de apartarme de la manera tradicional de considerarlos; es 2 25. Ibid., pp: 81-88. Cita 21. 'El Quijote en la concepción de lo real-maravilloso 26. CELORIO, Gonzalo, americano de Alejo Carpentier p.102 cit.15, pág. 289. 27. TUDELILLA, Chus, Fondo Goeritz, 28. Contrato entre Daniel Mont y Mathias Goeritz, CENIDIAP, México DF. cit.15, p. 336. 29. TUDELILLA, Chus, 30. Ibid.,pág. 341. 31. Ibid., pág. 339. 'Arte puro, puros maricones 32. RIVERA, Diego, 15. de las Artes Plásticas, México 27 de marzo de 1934. Alianza de Trabajadores 'Los gays en México: la fundación, la ampliación, 33. MONSIVÁIS, Carlos, la consolidación del ghetto', en Debate feminista, año 13, vol. 26, México, octubre 2002, p. 97. 34. Ibid., pág. 102. Fondo Goeritz, México DF. 35. Hoja volante, CENIDIAP, Sec. B, pp: 1-11, 14 de septiembre de 1983. CENIDIAP, 36. Diario Excelsior, Fondo Goeritz, México DF. Regino Díaz Redondo, Director Luis, informe dirigido al Sr. 37. CISNEROS, Fondo Goeritz, México DF. CENIDIAP, General del periódico Excelsior. cultura española de posguerra. La ficción de una nueva prehistoria 1940-1953 es el único que, junto al artículo de Javier Arnaldo “ de n.13, 1995, pp: 93-105, ha investigado documentalmente la biografía su Goeritz en Alemania, Marruecos y España, y ayuda a reconstruir de complicada trayectoria vital gracias a una exhaustiva investigación archivos. decir, de sólo ver en ellos una especie de inventario de hechos y fechas que se aceptan como errores o verdades, según cierto criterio impuesto por el método llamado cientí Amadises de América , ,

, 2 vols., , 2 vols., Mathias Goeritz , Editorial . México: Fondo de Cuadernos de . Múnich: R. Piper & , L’Harmattan, París 2002; Mathias Goeritz and antecedente no válido del Mi- , Tesis Doctoral, Yale , en Ida Rodríguez Prampolini , Fondo de Cultura Económica Minimal Art. A Critical Anthology , The Getty Center, Mathias Goeritz . cit. pp: 183-195. , en Ida Rodríguez Prampolini (ed.), Federico Morais, Empathy, Form and Space.

Los ecos de Mathias Goeritz Lo mexicano en la obra de Mathias Mathias Goeritz. Una biografía El arte contemporáneo. Esplendor y En este libro pionero Ida Rodríguez articula

El retorno de la serpiente. Mathias Goeritz y Abstracción y naturaleza Abstraktion und Einfühlung , Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía,

, Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft, Brwnswick Über das optische Formgefühl: Ein beitrag zur Arte antiguo en México L’art comme prière plastique La ética del expresionismo Ma Go: visión y memoria y de archivo.. Olivia Zúñiga, Los ecos de Mathias Goeritz , n. 1, marzo de 1954, Guadalajara. , Tesis Doctoral, Leipzig, Hermann Credner 1873. Versión inglesa , en , Pomaca, México, 1964. Gregory Battcock sobre Goeritz como un ' Battcock sobre Goeritz Gregory RODRÍGUEZ PRAMPOLINI, Ida. WESHTEIM, Paul. WORRINGER, Wilhelm, VISCHER, Robert, EDLER, Rita, ASTA, Ferrucio, MORAIS, Federico cit., pp: 34-35, donde comenta las referencias que GOERITZ, Mathias, “El Eco. Arquitectura emocional”, RODRÍGUEZ PRAMPOLINI, Ida.

Problems in German Aesthetics 1873-1893 consultada en Harry Francis Mallgrave¸ 1994, pp: 89-93 y ss. Aesthetik 14. KASSNER, Lily, cit., vol 1, p. 76. Lily, 14. KASSNER, Co. Verlag. Versión castellana: Cultura Económica, 1997, p. 30. gado la producción poética de Goeritz: hizo 8. cit., pp: 37-47. 9. 10. Goeritz 11. lFCE, México 1950.Edición consultada: Alianza Forma, 1988. 12. 13. Arquitectura han investi- 4. En orden cronológico han sido tres los principales críticos que dan las monografías y catálogos de obra completa sobre Goeritz 5. Todas esta información además de él mismo en innumerables fuentes 6. (ed.), cit., pp: 25-37. 7. Dutton, Nueva York 1968. 1. La polémica fue desatada por la publicación en prensa en septiembre 1. La polémica fue desatada por la publicación en prensa en septiembre que acusa a de 1975 de un memorándum firmado por Luis Barragán en el publicaciones Goeritz de minusvalorar su aportación al proyecto en diversas que este mexicanas e internacionales. En su informe, Barragán considera fenómeno habría comenzado con la monografía sobre Goeritz editada en 1963 por por Olivia Zúñiga, en la que Barragán aparece como arquitecto paisajista'. Más tarde se incorporaron a las discusiones en la prensa otras ataques personas de los círculos de Barragán y Goeritz en un cruce de mutuo que duró años. El archivo del CENIDIAP custodia la totalidad de recortes de prensa de esta polémica, que fueron cuidadosamente conservados por Goeritz a lo largo de los años. de lava en 2. El Espacio Escultórico es una obra de escultura en el paisaje el colectivo de las inmediaciones de la Ciudad Universitaria y fue firmado por Federico Silva artistas Hersúa, , Sebastián, Mathias Goeritz, y Manuel Felguérez. 3. nimalismo' en la introducción a su antología agonía la relación entre las vanguardias históricas y las neovanguardias de su momento, además de revelar las raíces de las neo en el primitivismo, el expresionismo y el dadá. The reality of fiction reality The by Mathias The ECO Goeritz Fernando Quesada UNAM, México 1982; Lily Kassner, UNAM e INBA, México 1998; y Jennifer Josten, University, 2012, inédita. International Modernism in 1949-1962 bibliográficas Intercontinental, México 1963; Federico Morais, cit. 1982; Gerard Auer, Mathias Goeritz. El Eco y Francisco Reyes Palma (ed.), Fomento cultural Banamex y Fundación Amparo, Madrid 2014. 1995; Ida Rodríguez Prampolini (ed.), catálogo de la exposición en el Colegio de San Ildefonso, INBA, UNAM, CNCA, México 1997; Lily Kasser, cit., 1998; Leonor Cuahonte, Mathias Goeritz (1915-1990). la arquitectura emocional

CPA 6 - 154 - empathic reverberationwiththehumanbody. generated experiments across unintelligible text,prefiguringGoeritz’s later the tower.Itwasabas-reliefsculpture withan 'plastic prayer'.Ametal architecture, liketheobelisk,which Goeritzcalled apparent function,halfwaybetween sculptureand The YellowTowerisatotemicform withoutany works byLuisBarragán. in morethanonecase,confusionbetweenthisworkand mythical picturesofArmandoSalasPortugalproduced, Diego Rivera’sdaughter,architectRuthRivera.The construction workswiththetechnicalassistance that separatesitfromthestreet.Goeritzcarriedout visibly standsout,withits11metershigh,overthewall Yellow Tower( Behind thestreetwall,anisolatedwall-piececalled spaces andoffices. service, givesaccesstoanupperfloorwithexhibition Two staircases,onebehindthebarandanotherforrear built byBarragánforhishouseinTacubaya,1947-48. a cross-shapedcarpentry,almostidenticaltotheone yard.' Bothareconnectedthroughalargewindowwith conceived asanoutdoorexhibitionspaceor' the courtyard.Closedtostreet,courtyardis the doubleheightexhibitionspace,andfromtherein of entering.Attheendpointthiscorridoroneenters space actsasaperceptualacceleratorofthemovement with inclinedtelescopicwallsandceiling,sothatthe The entryisontherightthroughavertiginouscorridor configured asatwo-storyL-shapearoundthecourtyard. from thestreetbyawall.The7-meterhighbuildingis El Ecoisasmallbuildingsetaroundcourtyard,hidden for architectureasanabstractspatialplastic brief 'Emotional Architecture',acategorythathedefinedin Eco in1953,Goeritzrealizedhisfirstcompleteworkof With theconstructionofExperimentalMuseum other artistsin1979-80 Space (EspacioEscultórico),carriedoutcollectivelywith environmental works,culminatingintheSculpture in 1942,totheconstructionoflarge-scale project thattookhimfromthepracticeofeaselpainting, least ifwereadGoertiz’sworkasamajorevolving subordination: thefirstwasavehicleforsecond,at Goeritz, maintainedarelationshipofcomplete emanation ofspace.Thesetwogoals,inthecase territorial levels,conceivingtheartworkas that includesthecorporeal,architectural,urban, understood asproducerofawideenvironmental all possiblelevels.Thesecondisthatoftheartistic organization, advertisingandknowledgeproduction,at artistic language,inordertofullycommittasksof actor thatsupersedestheworkofresearchingan artist asaproducerofcontexts,culturalandsocial vectors ofconceptualcontinuity.Thefirstisthatthe This discontinuityentails,however,twofundamental success oftheSatellite which theyclashed,intheaftermathofenormous Luis Barragánintheraceforinternationalization authorship battles,such haunted bytheghostofplagiarism,opportunismor His workhasalwaysbeen enormous capacitytogeneratecontroversyinthemedia. which Goeritzhandledhisbiography,alongwith unveiling. Thiswasfavoredby systematically oscillatedbetween Given thecomplexityofhispathway,criticismhas fabulation. path byincorporatingconsiderableamounts systematically builtthebiographyofhislifeandartistic happening, andarchitecture.Moreover,Goeritz sculpture, landart,typography,concretepoetry, monochromatic abstraction,monumentalabstract surrealism, primitiveart,informalpainting, artistic languages since hemadenumerousinroadsintomany (Danzig, 1915–MexicoCity,1990)ishardto The formalandplasticjourneyofMathiasGoeritz’swork

manifesto publishedthefollowing outofpureform,planesandcolors,in Torre Amarilla)setinthecourtyard s ofhistime:, concrete poetry.Next tothetower, Towers, in1957 .

as thefamousbreakupwith hieroglyphic 2

controversial andwasoften the cunningnesswith mystification and ' wasadheredto . year,pleading 1 of the

assemblage sculptural of follow, 3 dada, point of and of space work El the is meanttoproduce sentimentalprojection,something derived fromWorringer’saesthetic system,abstraction Therefore, accordingtothisinterpretative fiction Westheim: clear function,fromtheinterpretive The towerwith'nofunctioninElEcoactuallyhadavery and Tarascancultures. Tehotiuacana, Toltec,Maya,ChichenItza,Zapotec,Aztec, and geographicalareasofancientMexico,suchasthe analyzes concretecasesindifferentcultural,regional pyramid, themask,andsteppedfret.Thethirdpart 'expression nature andnaturalforces.Thesecondpartfocuseson of spirituality;andfinallytheideastheyhandledover of artisticproduction;theirmultifariousunderstandings theogonic systems;communal,non-individualisticform cultures, predicatedonfourmajorcharacteristics:their first partexposesthe' archaeologists of descriptiveandanalyticaltextspublishedby not yetbeenwritten,despitetheabundance Mexican pre-Cortesianartwhich,accordingtohim,had carefully. Westheimmeanttoproposeanaestheticof English version),wasabookthatGoeritzstudied in Spanish(TheArtofAncientMexicothe1965 to generateasenseoforientationin thespace offering spatialreferencestotheeye, thuscontributing columns wereculturalresiduesof that phenomenon, by emptiness.AccordingtoWorringer,thoseEgyptian resource toalleviatetheagoraphobiaoranxietycaused Egyptian templesofantiquity,interpretingthisfactasa any supportingfunctionwereplacedinfrontofthe had describedhowsomerowsofcolumnswithout Abstraction andEmpathy visitor intheemptyspaceofcourtyard.In book. Westheim repeatedlyofferedsimilar argumentsinhis Arte antiguodeMexico Westheim. Worringer, theGermanexpatriatetoMexicoPaul deep knowledgeofabookwrittenbydisciple in theworkofGoeritz albeit somewhattangentially,referringto' Daniel) hasmentionedthenameofWilhelmWorringer, Goeritz’s secondwifeandthemotherofheronlyson has received,onlyIda the greatcriticalattention building asinternationalart.Surprisinglyenough,ofall have repeatedlyinsistedontherecognitionofthis the newmodernprimitiveman This piece the Snake( in thecourtyard,anotherpieceofsculpturewassetup: Cabaret VoltairebyHugoBall anticipation ofMinimalart it asalateexpressionistexperiment The maincriticalreadingsofthisbuildinghaveproposed allegorized intheballet. which thebodiesofvisitorscouldmove,afactclearly interpreted asbodies,theSnakeandTower,within aforementioned sculptedfigures,whichcouldbe the emptycourtyardGoeritzinstalledtwo organism andplac Gesamtkunstwerk thatunifiedtheartsinasingle synthesis oftheartsinromantictradition majority ofthecriticsGoeritz’soeuvre,awork This buildingwas,followingtheinterpretationof tapestries andsilverware Goeritz alsodesignedsomesmallobjects,furniture, by LamAdomainandstagingdancerWalterNicks. to undocumentedapocryphalsources–,withmusic experimental balletdesignedbyLuisBuñuel–according building wasinauguratedonSeptember71953,withan Soria, andCarlosMeridawereexhibitedinElEco.The works byHenryMoore,GermánCueto,AlfonsoSoto del PedregalonbehalfofLuisBarragán.Inaddition, 1951 attheentranceofurbanization together withtheSnake, Guadalajara, made byGoeritzuponhisarrivalfromSpainin was theheirtosculpturalseriesofanimals Serpiente to ' acrossthreethemes:theaestheticsof in 1949,whosemostfamousprotagonistis, facilitate . 11

The bookconsistsofthreeparts. ed thebodyatcenterofspace.In ), madeofblackmetalandhollow. . worldview' ofpre-Cortesian Rodriguez Prampolini(whowas 10 , publishedin1950byWestheim the ShehasinsistedonGoeritz’s

Animal delPedregal,installedin (1907), WilhelmWorringer 5 . that MathiasGoeritz’sElEcho 7 sentimental , ahomage 8 , oracaveofAltamirafor 9 . Theseinterpretations 6 , an lens enunciatedby to Zurich's projection Jardines anomalous the Mexican 12 .

The of the

'

s but also,andmore importantly, works thatpersistwell as amachinethatnotonly produces interpretive truths like inallthecaseswhich fictionintervenes inhistory, caninthiscase beconsidered,truth cometo light, just rather thandemandingto beunveiled inorder to make tension between fictionandreality. Literary fiction, the pathofMathiasGoeritzwas marked by anenormous component to Goeritz’sbiography. From thebeginning, National Socialism–addastrong novelistic orfictional thesis –allthree institutions firmly controlled by the HouseofCulture inBerlin to publishhisdoctoral Gallery inBerlin, andto begranted thepermissionfrom his stay inMorocco, ascientificassistantto theNational employee oftheDeutscheAkademie evangelist religion.Thefactsofhavingbeenapublic archives states thathewas bornto aGermanfamily of the documentationGoeritzcarefully filedinhisown strong disagreements withNationalSocialism. However, upon hisarrival inSpain,fabulations abouthislife fact refutesthefictionsGoeritzbuiltabouthimself had to fleeGermany bothdueto hisJewishoriginand critics after hisdeath.Somefabulations meantthathe that have prevailed ever since,andwere fueledby the conventional structureofstraightconstruction the symmetricalandformalrepetitionbyrejecting according tothedynamicprincipleofdiagonals,avoiding of itswallsandcompartmentswasradiallyarranged or thequalitiesofalivingorganism,fordisposal as ifthearchitecturalelementshadacquiredvitality, Kassner, forexample: writings. AccordingtoMexicanarthistorianLily inspired Goeritzarelargelyabsentfromthe any oftheauthorsGermanspaceaestheticsthat cherished byGoeritzhimself.YetWorringer,Vischeror interpreters ofGoeritz’sworkatthetime,andwasalso This aestheticstancewasnotignoredbythe grants acertainvitalitytoforms. spectator, theaimistoachieveamodeofempathythat formal abstraction,integratingthemovementof the humanbodyandevenanimal.Bymeansof the spatialformsofarchitecturefromformallogic greater abstractionoftheToweranddetachment the Snake–,toanaffective mimetic anthropomorphismandclearlyawakenedby – Institute, hiredbytheGermanEmbassyinSpain. delegate totheGermanConsulateinTetouanCultural Goeritz hadsettledinMadrid.InMoroccohewasasa two yearsbeforehisarrivalinMexico,early1947, After havinglivedinMoroccosinceOctober1941,and so thatheseems to snatchtheswordfrom painted Chavez, Guillermo by mural revolutionary a before pose 1968 from photograph A beyond theirinterpretations. shapes inacceleratedperspective.Thereisashiftfrom actual movementofthespectatorbyusingangular right angle,symmetryandstaticgeometry,invitingthe The architecturalform of ElEco which isakineticbodily which isdynamic–,followedby'emotionalempathy awakens projection of is followedby'physiognomyempathy in continuity. of empathylinked Architecture and wasalsopartoftheagenda' center oftheethicalprojectGermanexpressionism projection andsociopoliticalforms,whichwasatthe importance: therelationshipbetweensentimental conclusion that,inthecaseofGoeritz,isgreatest Robert Vischer’sworkcontainsanunexpected although itismainlyderivedfromLipps’scheme, Vischer, JohannesVolkeltandTheodorLipps.And Hermann Lotze,FriedrichVischerandhissonRobert the writingsofvariousauthorswhoprecededhim: procedure. Worringerdrewhisnotionofempathy the primitivewitnessorantecedentgestureofthat of 1954.ThefiguretheSnakeappearsinspace Goeritz called'EmotionalArchitectureinhismanifesto physiognomic empathybasedonamoreorless sensation; whereas' '. Vischer the bodyontocenterofmatterthat 'Immediate sensation'–whichisstatic–, to twoperceptivemodesthathappen ' distinguished betweentwoforms El Eco response empathy, throughthe hw u Geiz lyn a playing Goeritz us shows ' hadaninternaldynamics, response sensation completelyeludesthe . 13 Emotional ofMunichduring ' –themotionless critics’ . 14

15 ' – This from as

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- 155 - The reality of fiction

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-rica.

If 27

1575), 22 España and ani- -rors of the arrangement Spain, Nueva La hazaña de . La hazaña of events that fantastic, development According to According to

his own la coalescence of 21 , in 1947, and de New the ', the show collected, of Historia general y of (Amadises of Ame (Amadises Despite the Despite most circulated at the

strange human 23 'Mathias Goeritz. that of a series

conquista their la Conquest component de Amadises de América Amadises fictions

. Adventurers and conque the evidence 26 of . For its part, the chivalric literature was Rodriguez challenged. 25 fictional The works began in September 1952 and verdadera 28 in unknown territories, i.e. the . Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, Captain of the . Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, Captain of the landscapes with and 24 History documental errant-knight assimilating new characters, plots and figures from the assimilating new characters, plots and figures exotic Chronicles of Indies, such as islands, boaters and the aim of historical research is demonstrable truth, fic- tion writing – as a product of imagination, ignored, even for the out of question and systematically is definitely In her doctoral thesis doctoral thesis In her Indias como empresa caballeresca como empresa Indias in defended Company), Chivalrous Feat as The Indies contemporary challenged the 1947, Ida Rodriguez excessive confidence historiography for its Anglo-Saxon and archival sources. in documentation schools archi- for Anglo-Saxon historical Ida Rodríguez, evidence. the only and main historical val files are himself had practiced it in a novel devoted to the knight the knight to devoted it in a novel himself had practiced Ida by as argued history, in 1519. Oviedo’s Don Claribate chivalry from taken features is full of stylistic Rodriguez, as a maritime explorer the nautical featuring literature, purpose of stylistic procedures. tropical mal creatures. In Historia (True author Bernal Díaz del Castillo described himself fiction and reality. On March 27, 1952 Mathias Goeritz opened his second solo until April 30, sample works made during his stay in Mexi- co: six paintings, one drawing and thirty sculptures. exhibition in , in the Gallery, directed by Inés Amor. Entitled Exhibition of paintings and sculptures was there that Goeritz met Daniel Mont, the entrepreneur from Guadalajara who had founded the galleries Mont-Orendain in Mexico City Mont, at Street, in June 1952. On June 27 of that year, Mont and Goeritz signed the contract for the realization of El Eco, which included fees and budget, Ruth Rivera as the archi-tect in charge of the technical supervision and Goeritz’s commitment to make two sculptures. the official opening took place on September 7 of the preponderance of impulses and emotion over reason preponderance of impulses many human acts – and judgment to determine neuroscience fully supports –, something that current about historical the possible effect of fictional writing sort of historical scientific events rarely entered the literature Ida aim was twofold: firstly to analy For Ida Rodriguez, the the chivalrous spirit of the epic that would explain the the chivalrous spirit of the Indies enterprise; and reasons for Castile to boost the reflection and mutual in- secondly to point and show fiction and the Chronicles of fluences between chivalric the Indies. Although chivalric literature was condemned enormous by Spanish Erasmist humanists, it enjoyed an to popularity among all social classes with access reading Emperor Charles V of Spain, governor of the Fortress Santo Domingo, and the author of the occurred natural de las Indias (General and Natural History of the he Indies, 1526), abhorred the chivalric genre, although stunned by the city of Tenochtitlan, a lattice of blocks in the water with a monumental center, straight roads, canoes and floating gardens. Given the impossibility of comparison with any other known city, Castillo used a well-known literary fantasy reference, Amadís de Gaula, mimicking its style and construction methods, its figures and terminology for time, chivalrous literature, to the point of acquiring a state of truth that could only be questioned much later. In all this, the only remaining truth is the literary historical account New World never stopped projecting on that land the imagery originated in their own culture, built out of the long tradition of Western stories and reports from the Atlantis of Plato onward. Despite the will of the chroniclers to descriptive objectivity, the words exposed in these objective chronicles were inevitably filtered through the popular

-

a 18 '

Aristotelian while in while original event -ve clean slate O'Gorman. The (1905-1913),

o Orbis Terrarum, i.e. culmination,

of the knight-errant

through a substantial given his date of birth, Paul Klee in Paris and Gast. According to Goeritz’s

Die Brücke cal sign of the idea of historical of historical of the idea cal sign . Christianity endorsed those - century. the ideal of scientific progress, the ideal of 19 of Mathias Goeritz, whom she

tutor Edmund conversion of an original event 20 . kground of Ida Rodriguez when she O'Gorman sustains the absolute In diametrical contrast to the attitude Casas’s chronicle this event would be this event would chronicle In Casas’s

17 substantially the matter is to recognize that any act, any that recognize is to matter the substantially invention will be able to determine a meaning for this a meaning for determine will be able to invention in the second. in the potential replacement by an interpretati to allow the complete redefinition of the from new interpretations, not burdened by the past. In Humboldt’s an unequivo Humboldt’s from destiny emanated nineteenth typical of the the existence of God; of God; of the existence a demonstration Facing the dilemma of interpretation, i.e. confronted Facing the dilemma of interpretation, of a meaningless event into with the transformation that, in the case of the causal act, O'Gorman argued between the land known today event of the encounter Columbus, the interpretive as America and Christopher exceeded. limit was systematically What is deliberately at stake here is the distinction here at stake What is deliberately act, and so and their mutual relationship, event between that ' when considered in itself, is a meaningless event, is a meaningless in itself, an event considered when his own words: In antiquity it was assumed that the the world, consisted of three distinct entities: Europe, entities: Europe, distinct of three consisted the world, Asia and Africa, which also responded to a cultural hierarchy in that order ideas, so that in 1492 the fourth land-mass was even- land-mass was ideas, so that in 1492 the fourth Terrarum, as another part of the Orbis absorbed tually The sea changes. huge epistemological thus producing and this no longer seen as the limit of the world, was of different canceled the possibility of the existence worlds as assumed by ancient non-Christian cultures, in the sea becoming just a kind of a lake located In between different masses of the same land-world. genuine O'Gorman’s territorial and political system, the having idea of discovery as an encounter – that by not in his taken place in historical chronicles only existed fictional system and alongside the reality of invention, rela involves a pluralistic conception of worlds equally ted. However, in the reality of invention that the relationship can only be subsidiary regarding inventing agent. deconstruction of the without sense into an act determined by an interpretation – discovery, in this case –, and its of which we could therefore not say what it is, in other of which we could therefore a cause or a determination. words, an event without America and Columbus is between If the encounter in order to be assumed as an no longer seen as an act, only the idea event, the idea of discovery vanishes, and of masses of two established between new relationship the start, from since relationship land – an asymmetrical of stating that a fact The mere the other. the one invents poten- America, the other, invented land-mass, Europe, be to that interpretation opened the possibility for tially as it has indeed been the case in subsequent reversed, of modernity studies and appropriations postcolonial periphery. the standpoint of from 1915 –, to absorb the educational experiences of the Bauhaus (1919-1933). In other words, Mathias Goeritz had already moved – in fiction – was able – surprisingly enough, amazing story, contradicted by archival sources only much later, he was part of adopted by all historians, that start with an America in sight (and O'Gorman refers specifically to the The intellectual bac met Mathias Goeritz in Altamira carried the aesthetic- political system of her met personally after his path of pan-European travels full of fictional adventures taking him from Germany to Spain via , with a stop in , where he briefly lived with Marianne part of the geographical imaginary modern artist, only lacking a logical America and the invention of himself. and Ptolemaic mythologies) we start from a void, a not- yet-existing America imagery that she was dealing with at that time was embodied in the figure painted alongside Picasso, met ' a not was ' and the group

widely project These colonial school ', which he research ' as a discovery . His 16 ,' O'Gorman proposed the The same event, an admiral who runs pictorial School of Altamira pictorial School invention of America what happened in 1492 ' was not only absurd and false when marriage that lasted only two years, beginning in intense Spanish stay. ' to the spread of modern painting ' to the spread School of Altamira confronted with documented historical facts (the Spanish Chronicles of the Indies), but that the term 'invention' responded more accurately to what really happened. This conceptual mismatch allowed the possibility of a specifically American historicity that was at the basis of its identity constitution, therefore modulated from canonically European conceptions of history, time and territory. Before being invented, America simply did not exist as such and could therefore not have been discovered. enterprise, which O'Gorman questioned in a radical fashion. What O'Gorman argued was that the term 'discovery According to O'Gorman, the fact that the interpretation According to O'Gorman, the fact that the interpretation of that event as a discovery had remained unquestioned for centuries – despite the fact that even his starring agent Columbus had not admitted it, in his stubborn insistence on the Asian hypothesis –, turned into a value-laden nonsense that could only be dismantled on the basis of facts, but their interpretations. interpretations were ultimately responsible for the reading of ' author of some pioneering and controversial studies. Edmundo O'Gorman's ideas circulated and among his students way before their publication, his intellectual authority was indisputable despite having many academic rivals. Not only was O’Gorman the mentor of Ida Rodriguez and her lifetime intellectual accomplice, but also her husband during a brief after 1948 with the return of Ida Rodriguez to Mexico O'Gorman thoroughly reviewed the literature of America’s discovery, making clear that between the interpretation of, for example, Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, and that of Alexander von Humboldt, what one really finds is the very conception of historical time of their respective patterns of thought: the theological and the deterministic. into an unknown land, is defined as a fact caused by a divine plan in the first case and by a scientific actually existed between 1949 and 1951. Two major 1949 and 1951. Two between existed actually launched by held there, were conferences international figure, performing a knight in some kind of guerrilla kind of guerrilla in some a knight performing figure, of 1948, in the summer earlier, years Twenty parody. photographer – German at the time and his wife Goeritz in Santillana del Mexicans –, met three Marianne Gast and Rangel, Alejandro north of Spain: painter Mar, her ' Refusing the idea that America had been discovered good day of October 1492 thesis of the focused on the interpretations of the facts surrounding the discovery, rather than on the facts themselves. Christopher Columbus, returning from his fourth voyage, insisted that he had reached Asian lands, or specifically the so-called archipelago of Cipango, to the Japan. Already by then, at the turn of the fifteenth sixteenth century, an official and hegemonic (though started to contradictory) discourse of the discovery had emerge. Goeritz called ' Goeritz called not only of the Goeritz fiction, key to the construction brilliant career in Mexico, after but also of his real and in October 1949. Ida he moved to that country his Rodriguez, born in Veracruz in 1925, had obtained with a doctorate in history just before her trip to Spain, was the thesis supervised by Edmundo O'Gorman, who brother of architect and painter Juan O'Gorman in Spain. Altamira was the site of the famous primitive in Spain. Altamira was paintings and the ' cave covered with bison Goeritz, who could not attend for he moved to Mexico Goeritz, who could not took place. shortly before the conferences of the School, its genesis and its Beyond the very history and international art of the importance for the Spanish of Ida Rodriguez Prampolini moment, the presence very shortly after Josefina Muriel and Ida Rodriguez after Josefina Muriel and very shortly up the ' These three students made Prampolini. advertised tirelessly to build his ambitious project of to build his ambitious advertised tirelessly a '

CPA 6 - 156 - insulted mefortenminutesatthePalaceofFineArts. homosexuals, etc.Somedayslater,DiegoRiveragracefully Alvaro SiqueirosandDiegoRivera: that letterGoeritzmentionedthecriticismreceived functioned asagallery,andforveryshorttime. Eight ofJulyandMorelosstreets. nizer ofSaturnaliaathishome,located atthecrossingof arrested onchargesof Mexico City,escapingfromGuadalajara,afterbeing audience ofthecapitalcity. ChuchoReyes settledin American wealthy entrepreneurs, andthehomosexual and nightclub devoted to thehigh Mexican bourgeoisie, operated from 1955on,andagain briefly, asrestaurant museum was very barely short, ayear, after which it Thelife-span ofElEco asexperimentalideological dart. known asKingKong insociety,Mont, was apremonitory Barragn, Jess (Chucho)Reyes Ferreira andDaniel homosexual dandiesfrom Guadalajara suchasLuis against Goeritz’sgroup offriends,includingnotorious February 181955 1953, itopenedasarestaurantwithanartgalleryon his projectfinished: executed byMarianneGast.DanielMontcouldnotsee in factnothingbutpurequeers bourgeois scribeswho,callingthemselvespurepoets,are restaurant-ba mentio-ned thathewasengagedinbuildinga' already anemerging group ofpseudo-plasticsandlittle bourgeoisie inpower. Thatiswhy here inMexico there is isthe darling ofthe capitalist abstract art, 'So pure art, (Pure Pure Art. Queers),inMarch 1934.Rivera wrote: by DiegoRivera, called Arte puro. Puros maricones also thesubjectofonefamous polemicmanifestos mosexuality andcounterrevolutionary tendencies was The identificationofthebourgeois spiritwithbothho- of profound changesinurban socialbehaviors. its opennessto international markets, andthebeginning (1946-1952), witnessedthecountry'sindustrialization, Avila (1940-1946)andespecially thatofMiguelAlemán The two following presidential terms, thatofManuel economy, landexpropriations, andforeign investors. domestic consumption,theempowerment ofrural nationalist leanings,withemphasisonproduction and (1934-1940) was aregime ofstate socialismwithstrong in 1917.Lzaro Cardenas’ six-year presidential term to 1940,many years beyond theConstitutionapproved extend theMexican revolutionary process from 1910 nationalism between 1925and1940.Somehistorians heat oftheboomcoincidingwithleft-revolutionary The ideologyofMexican muralism was forged inthe than functional)Architecture. Healsosaid that we are all modern architecture with this newEmotional(rather Siqueiros saidinapublicspeech that Iamathreat to pre-opening, whichhadagreatimpactinthepress. Another letterfromGoeritztoWesterdhalreports Accused der lutionary nationalistidentityasdefendedbymuralists. painting byCarlos Méridabehindthebar.Theowner, ensemble, mixingplatitudesandsecrecies, underahuge to theLyricTheatre: opened thesecond,calledTheEloínes, locatedopposite lled Madreselva(Honeysuckle) In 1949therewasalreadyasmall gay cabaretinFD,ca- the wallofElEcho,thankstophotogra which hemadethesketchthatSotoSoriatransferredto O'Gorman, MooresawMexicanpopularJu-dasfiguresof Frida KahloinSanAngel,builtbyar-chitectJuan mural. DuringhisvisittothehouseofDiegoRiveraand and ElEco,towhichheagreed facility. InJanuaryofthatyear March 1954,thatwouldlater inspired byHenryMoore’sdrawingsinFebruaryand outlines foramural background space mural by the exhibitionprojectwascompromised.Thelarge heart attackonOctober251953,andthefinancingof Spanish intellectualbasedintheCanaryIslands,Goeritz In alettertohisfriendEduardoWesterdhal,the following year. of boththeAmericanspaceandcanonical of homosexuality,Goeritz Rufino Tamayointendedforthewall r'. 29 . DanielMontdiedsuddenlyfroma 30 was notexecuted,exceptforvague Onlythesmallspaceon painted byJess SotoSoria, after thepre-openinginSeptember

A cabaretenlivenedbyaCuban inverted, childmolesterandorga- form thebasisof ' , andin1951DanielMont Moore visitedMexico 32 33 . Siqueiros’sattack contribute witha was seenasaninva- Two dayslater, phic blow-ups

the top gallery the revo In from floor 31

- called in Mexico,forwhichMathiasGoeritzdevisedtheso on October2,andthecelebrationofOlympicGames massacre inthePlazaofThreeCulturesTlatelolco by CLETAwas1968,coincidingwiththestudent controversial movementCLETA.Theyearoftheassault students fromtheFacultyofArts,beginning the seizureofElizabethanForumbyagroup assignment ofbudgetgenerateddiscontentthatledto the UNAM.Amongotherthings,unilateral [El Eco]wasaluxurytheaterwhichcostmanymillionsto CLETA today,thoughatanothervenue.Cisneros author ofthetextwasLuisCisneros,whoisstillleading the resultingdeteriorationcausedbyabandonment. event, andthatthebuilding in amurder,withoutgivingtheparticulardateof a restaurant-cabaretwasdueto' release mentionedthattheclosureofElEcoas provided byCLETAinresponsetotheaforesaidpress Arts) andTecoloteCulturalCenter 1968: CLETA(FreeExpressionCenterfor denounced thetworesidentassociationsof Society fortheArtisticTreasuresofMexico, controversies amongbuildingoccupantsandthe In September1983,apressrelease the photographs. and theYellowTowerwaspaintedingray,asshown was replaced by anopaqueenclosure inlight blue, the facade suffered anewalteration, themetallattice quoting a falling preytoanemptyandtheatricaldecorativism emotions throughamodernconcept,andwithout way, thegoalof architectural experimenthasreached,inalivelydynamic last tenyears,hewouldagreewithusthathis history ofwhatwasbornanddevelopedhereoverthe Goeritz, butwebelievethatiftheartistknewabout El EcodoesnolongerexistasitwasconceivedbyMathias CLETA reportconcludesthat: outskirts oftheUniversityCampus. sculptors ina sculptures installedbyaninternationalteamof stage ontheleftside;anelongated body was addedto background spacebecameachambertheater witha undertaking majorarchitectural reforms. The Center Theater management ofthebuilding,installingUniversity Progressive Architecture published onthecoverofAmericanmagazine very fewdrawingsproducedfortheproject)was In 1956MathiasGoeritz’sideogramof the catwalk. end thenightatTheEloínestorubshoulderswithfurs. have dinnerinchic-places,oftenwearingasmoking.They of Mexico UNAM acquired thelandproperty and In June1962theNationalAutonomous University presence ofthisbuildingintheinternational media. paraded on the mostsophisticated gays ofthecapital mural by Carlos Mérida,similarto thatofTheEloínes, In ElEco,andinfront ofthelongbarwithabstract fiction indistinguishablefromreality. the talesofchivalryandChronicles ofIndies,render was crossedbytragicandevenbloodyeventsthat,like sometimes forgedbythehandofbiographicalevents.It was oneofthemainprotagonists–,adream, Mexico. TheMexicanmodernization–ofwhichGoeritz closing thecircleofofficialmodernarchitecturein use asanExperimentalMuseumwasrestored,forever El Ecowascompletelyrebuiltin2005anditsoriginal Emotional Architecture. after Daniel Mont,KingKong,callshighsocietygayswho, which waswrappedwithahighmetallattice.In1972 this producedthesubsequentalterationoffacade, the frontofbuilding,nexttoYellowTower,and attending thetheater,operaorsymphony, Route phrase (initalics)fromGoeritz’sManifestoof of section ofthering-motorway,in riendship f 35 'producing [andreproducing]human , laterknownasElizabethanForum, GESAMKUNSTWERK BIOGRAPHY EMPATHY , initiatinganunstoppable AMÉRICA FABLE

: aseriesoflarge-scaleurban was closedforawhilewith The ExperimentalMuseum fight' thatended 36 recounted the . Thereport El Eco(oneof Theatre and El Ecosince which had wrote: The ' the 37 34 ,

- 157 - The reality of fiction