UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Dematerialization in the Argentine Context: Experiments in the Avant-garde in the 1960s A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the Requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Art History, Theory, and Criticism by Elize M. Mazadiego Committee in charge: Professor W. Norman Bryson, Co-Chair Professor Grant Kester, Co-Chair Professor Steve Fagin Professor Ruben Ortiz-Torres Professor Emily Roxworthy 2015 Copyright Elize M. Mazadiego, 2015 All Rights Reserved. The Dissertation of Elize M. Mazadiego is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Co-Chair ____________________________________________________________ Co-Chair University of California, San Diego 2015 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page ................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents............................................................................................................... iv List of Figures......................................................................................................................v Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................... viii Vita.......................................................................................................................................x Abstract of the Dissertation ............................................................................................... xi Introduction: In the Age of Discontinuity............................................................................1 Chapter 1: The Aesthetics of Negation..............................................................................18 Chapter 2: Democratizing the Avant-Garde ......................................................................86 Chapter 3: Rethinking the Happening .............................................................................137 Conclusion: After 1968, we dematerialize ......................................................................192 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................200 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Cornell Capa, Pro-Peronist Rally, 1955........................................................................... 7 Figure 2. Joaquín Torres-Garcia, Constructivist Composition, 1943.......................................23 Figure 3. Raúl Lozza, Relieve no. 30, 1945......................................................................................27 Figure 4. Gyula Kosice, Royi (Articulated Sculpture), 1944......................................................28 Figure 5. Diyi Laañ, Articulated Madí Painting, 1946 ...............................................................29 Figure 6. Lucio Fontana, Spatial Concept, 1950 ............................................................................31 Figure 7. Sucesos Argentinos, Film still from “First Television Antenna Construction”, 1951 ...............................................................................................................................................................35 Figure 8. Kenneth Kemble, Tregua, 1957.........................................................................................39 Figure 9. Jean Fautrier, Tête d’otage, 1945......................................................................................42 Figure 10. Kenneth Kemble, Pequenas reglas de conducta, 1958...........................................46 Figure 11. Kenneth Kemble, Untitled, 1959 ....................................................................................47 Figure 12. Kenneth Kemble, Paisaje Surburbano, 1958.............................................................49 Figure 13. Exhibition Invitation for Arte Destructivo...................................................................50 Figure 14. Jorge Roiger, Arte Destructivo, 1961............................................................................53 Figure 15. Marta Minujín, Testimonio para una joven tumba, 1960-1...................................58 Figure 16. Marta Minujín, An example of her warped boxes, 1961-3....................................60 Figure 17. Arman, Poubelle (de Paul Wember), 1960 .................................................................61 Figure 18. Harry Shunk, Arman in Streets of Paris, 1960...........................................................62 Figure 19. Harry Shunk, Pierre Restany firing at St. Phalle’s Tirs, 1961 ..............................65 Figure 20. Niki de Saint Phalle, Tir, 1961 ........................................................................................65 Figure 21. Harry Shunk, Photo-documentation of La Destrucción, 1961..............................67 v Figure 22. Photo from Clarín, Alberto Greco’s Monja Asesinada, 1961...............................70 Figure 23. Alberto Greco, Vivo-Dito (Paris, France), 1962.......................................................75 Figure 24. Alberto Greco, Vivo-Dito (Piedralaves, Spain), 1963.............................................80 Figure 25. Oscar Bony, Photo-documentation of Greco’s Mi Madrid Querido, 1964 ......82 Figure 26. Marta Minujín, Revuélquese y viva!, 1964..................................................................89 Figure 27. Emilio Renart, Integralismo Bio-cosmos n º3, 1964................................................89 Figure 28. Invitation to Feria de la Ferias, 1964...........................................................................95 Figure 29. Olivetti Building................................................................................................................100 Figure 30. “Arte Vivo o arte de los vivos?”, Atlántida, August, 1965.................................108 Figure 31. “La Menesunda o el fin de los ismos”, Leoplán, June 16, 1965 .......................109 Figure 32. Marta Minujín, El Batacazo, 1965..............................................................................111 Figure 33. Allan Kaprow, Calling, 1965........................................................................................117 Figure 34. Claes Oldenburg, Snapshots from the City, 1960...................................................118 Figure 35. Carlos Squirru, Edgardo Gimenez and Dalila Puzzovio, Por que son tan geniales?,1965.........................................................................................................................................121 Figure 36. Delia Cancela and Pablo Mesejean, Love and Life, 1965....................................127 Figure 37. Cover page of Primera Plana, August 23-29, 1966..............................................132 Figure 38. George Segal, Bus Driver, 1962 ..................................................................................139 Figure 39. Brochure for Acerca (de): “Happenings,”1966.....................................................152 Figure 40. Claes Oldenburg, Autobodys, 1963.............................................................................160 Figure 41. Reproductions in Masotta’s book Happenings, 1967...........................................162 Figure 42. Marta Minujín, Simultaneidad y Simultaneidad, 1966.........................................179 Figure 43. “Happening para un Jabali Difunto,” El Mundo, August 22, 1966..................182 vi Figure 44. “Happening” El escarabajo de oro no. 31-2, 1966 ...............................................184 Figure 45. Roberto Jacoby, Mensaje en el Di Tella, 1968 .......................................................193 Figure 46. Closure of Roberto Plate’s El baño, 1968 ................................................................195 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is with sincere gratitude that I wish to thank and acknowledge the many people who supported me on this long journey. I am indebted to my co-chairs Grant Kester and W. Norman Bryson whose attentive readings and valuable comments helped me advance this project. I would like to extend my appreciation to the committee Steve Fagin, Rubén Ortiz-Torres and Emily Roxworthy for their sustained contributions. Thank you to Kate Edwards, Asia Marks, Judi Griffith and the rest of the Visual Arts Department for their generous support, without which this project would not have been realized. I appreciate Luis Martin-Cabrera and Roberto Tejada for their collaboration during my tenure at UCSD. To Roberto Jacoby, Talia Bermejo, Isabel Plante, and those at Centro de Investigaciones Artistícas, Fundación Espigas, Museo de Arte Moderno Buenos Aires and the Universidad de Buenos Aires for their invaluable assistance with this project. To my dear friends and colleagues Edward Sterrett, Mariola Alvarez and Orianna Cacchione for your companionship. I am so grateful to have shared this process with you. Thank you Laia, Lindsay, Brenda and Kristen. Thanks to Roger, Maxi, Judith, Ben and Kath for your support when I was running the last and most challenging mile of this marathon. I am eternally grateful for my mother, father and brother. Your unconditional love and understanding during this process sustained me. To my ancestors,