TUCUMAN ARDE: COUNTER INFORMATION AND THE CREATION OF AESTHETIC AND CULTURAL MILITANCY
If there is one thing in my short visit on this planet has taught me, is that the relationship between art and politics is a pretty much a hot mess on your chest. Some would say that without politics there can be no art, and others would take the vice-a-verse stance and tell you that without art - politics would suffer as well. I find that art and artists that wear the skin of the liberal activist are amongst some of the most diluted, self-centered, hypocritical garbage that serves one purpose in a cultural economy: that of the easily and unthoughtful consumable surplus for the bourgeoisie. I have left all personal judgment and belief of artist's intention and 'morale' at the door. But history also shows us that there are instances in which a certain type of cultural production can cut through the fog of oppression and boredom of the ruling state. A point in our history where a group has opted to create an alternative, a new definition and method of working together, inspiring perhaps a new type of society, a new way to live.
I'll rewind to 1968, sans nostalgia. Not in France, although the Situationists had an influence. Not in the United States, either. But in Argentina.
Argentina, 1968.
Politically, the self-proclaimed Argentine "revolutionary," Gen. Juan Carlos Ongania had manifested a coup d'etat two years earlier and placed the country in an astonishing state of disillusion and fascism. The demands of the workers were not being met, salaries were frozen, and the devaluation of their money did not give Ongania's "Desarrollista" (Developing) Program a reputable name in the press, but rather a sordid one. As a result of this killer 'progress,' military forces where put in place to douse the flames of the public fervor or the threat of civilian uprising; the union movement suffering the hardest blow.
As an experiment, the North East province of Tucuman would be turned into the epicenter of a new economic order fueled by foreign interest and capital. Sugar mills which provided the majority of income and work were shut down in order to implement Ongania's new "experiment." The "Tucuman Operative" as it was called, closed down the sugar mills and soon showed the results of this experiment to be an accelerated process of impoverishment. Failure was the foundation for an empire of lies promoting the success of Ongania's "Tucuman Operative" which civilians referred to as the Silence Operative. No one sees anything, no one says anything-type of game.
Artistically, the 1960s had brought the idea of European avant-garde movements and an influx of derivative minimalism from North America to many Latin American countries. Within the political climate of Argentina in 1968, the oppressive nature of their dictatorship had enacted strong censorship towards anything that could possibly ignite a thought of dissent or question the ruling hand of the state. As a result of the phenomenon that was the Cuban Revolution and the recent death of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, as well as the newly found spirit of Latin American decolonization and the actions of Parisians in May of 1968 (Situationists) which challenged an entire cultural and social system, students and artists in Argentina had adopted the new role of "cultural sniper."
The artist as agitator by means of irony, provocation, and the absurd had been born out of a conquered space.
An example of this new found identity can be seen in the events that occurred at the DiTella Institute, during it's "Experiencias 1968" exhibit. Artist, Roberto Plate, had constructed a set of toilets in the gallery with no fixtures while the walls were served its dose of criticism and anti-government graffiti. Police attempted to shut down the entire exhibition with claims that it violated their penal code on obscenity and offended the "dignity or decorum of a public functionary," but instead guarded the faux-restroom and sealed it off. Their censorship created a larger spectacle and bureaucratic embarrassment. A strategy, as Luis Camnitzer (Conceptualism in Latin American Art: Didactics of Liberation; 2007) states, was almost invisible and successful in manipulating and ridiculing authority.
As a result of this spectacle at the Di Tella Institute, not only did the remainder of participating artists remove their artworks from the gallery - but took them outside, and as a public act of dissent, destroyed all of their works. Further actions ensued, notably, interrupting a lecture by the Di Tella Institute gallery director, Romero Brest and announced:\
"We believe that art signifies an active engagement with reality, acitve because it aspires to transform this class society into a better one...As a consequence, we declare that the life of "Che" Guevara and the actions of the French students are works of art of greater importance than the majority of the stupidities hanging on the walls of the thousands of museums around the world.
We aspire to transform each piece of reality into an art object that turns upon the consciousness of the world, revealing the intimate contradictions of this class society.
“Down with all the institutions, long live the art of the Revolution." (Artist, Juan Pablo Renzy)
These sit-ins, meetings, and disruptions culminated into the manifesto that would help the artists organize Tucaman Arde, alongside the support of the CGTA (General Workers Confederation of the Argentines) union members of the province
The following is a description of their purpose:
"A work that would accuse rather comment on reality. A collective work that eliminating the narcissistic, individuality of the artist, would question the autonomy of art, and would be distributed within the struggling class." (Belen Garcia, transcription from: Tucuman Arde video; Queens Museum, NY 1999)
Anticipating the co-optation of works of art intended to subvert and disturb, the Tucuman Arde collective agreed on the following points:
i. The development of art could no longer consist of the creation of an avant garde movement\
ii. Art could no longer be shown in galleries or museums\
iii. Art could no longer be restricted to addressing onlyan elite public\
iv. Art had to challenge society and achieve results similar to those of political actins, but in a more long lasting manner and on a deeper cultural level.
In November of 1968, the new cultural militants organized economists, sociologists, journalists, and photographers to counter-act the government's false publicity of Tucuman being a
"Garden of the Republic," revealing the truth about the "Garden of Misery." They conducted interviews, gathered statistics, recorded audio and film, and documented all testimonials. Their aims were to "create a parallel subversive culture to wear out the official culture machinery." The group of artists held press conferences and rused the press into believing that their purpose was to create a cultural profile of Tucuman. The media became their brush and paint.
In order to orchestrate their aesthetic-political action and flood the cycle of disinformation, the Tucuman Arde van-garde formulated a four-stage strategy:
The first stage served to gather a surplus of information that would document the problems in Tucuman and would be the basis of the exhibit. They were able to obtain records regarding infant mortality rate, testimonials and proof of poor sanitary conditions, the desertion of the educational system, etc. Once the police caught wind of their true intentions for visiting Tucuman, they proceeded to block the artists from documenting certain areas of the province. Regardless, the group of artists collected enough evidence to hold a second press conference that revealed the true meaning of the work in order to accomplish some political repercussion. Leaflets were handed out, and posters that read "Tucuman" were posted, the second edition of the poster read "Tucuman Arde," and finally the enigmatic poster that appeared to have no correlation, "First Avant Garde Art Biennial."
The second stage was the exhibition of the materials themselves at the CGTA headquarters. The entrance floor of the building was carpeted with the names of the sugar mill owners and their relationship to political power; those who wanted to view the rest of the exhibit would have to walk on these names. The walls were covered with newspaper clippings of the reported injustices and served as hard documentation. Photomurals stood strong along with short documentary films and other audiovisual materials and loudspeakers that loudly broadcasted the testimonials and interviews of the citizens of Tucuman. To add to the flux of information, the Tucuman Arde artists had two-minute blackouts representing the average time between child deaths according to the mortality rate census. Sugar-less coffee was served to guests and in the following days, more and more information was added to the exhibit.
Unfortunately, the third stage that consisted of closing the information circuit faced censorship at the hands of those in power. From Tucuman, the exhibit traveled to Rosario, and then to Buenos Aires, which lasted only hours before being taken down. Syntheses of their counter-information actions were put to a stop. The fourth stage which would have been the publication and analysis of their research and documentation never came to fruition since many of the materials had to be destroyed in order to preserve the integrity of their goals as the avant-garde group.
Some have interpreted Tucuman Arde as failing in its end goal. The most affected population was supposed to be the citizens of Tucuman, which were highlighted as the most exploited. In the end, it was the elite, the artists who had tried to define themselves within this particular avant-garde who faced a total shut down. Months later after the Tucuman Arde exhibit was forced to close down, the Di Tella Institute gallery which had continued to show somewhat progressive work was also shut down. The Centro de Arte y Comunicacion (CAYC) was put in its place and exhibited more mainstream artworks.
So was it a failure? I would say not. Not by a long shot. What these artist attempted to do is subvert, communally destroy the ego of the artist as the elite, all-knowing style-sage. Furthermore, they transformed their own philosophies and practices in the face of totalitarianism. They demystified the bridge between artist, artwork, and viewer/participant. If they were the vine that was crushed by the fascist Argentine hand, you can rest assure that thorns cut flesh and wounds were had. Tucuman Arde is considered to be the most important political statement in the history of art in Argentina.
"Tucuman Arde used art for the sake of politics. Most of conceptual art and certain manifestations of 'contemporary political art' use politics as the subject to do art." (Artist and participant, Leon Ferrari, Cuba, 1973)
In the spirit of dissent and the desire to topple down totalitarian rule over culture, aesthetics, and the freedom to be who the fuck you want to be...(and because we have to work 40+ hours a day and for what??) I present an overture of sorts, a joining of minds if you will, much like the artists of Tucuman Arde did. Please humor me:
Los Crudos/ La Caida De Latino America
Bags/ We Don’t Need No English
Los Violadores/ Viejos Pateticos
State of Alert/ Public Defender
Born Against/ Five Dollars an Hours
Discharge/ State Violence State Control
Negative Approach/ I Got A Right (Live)
His Hero Is Gone/ Under Watchful Eyes
Flux of Pink Indians/ Progress
Capitalist Casualities/ Murder Media
Asshole Parade/ Puncture The Quiet Life
Lack of Interest/ Social Inequality
contributed by Deegz
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2 comments:
interesting blog.
So what did the foriegn capital bring to Tucumun and why did it fail?
unfortunately liberal ideals come from indulgence and lazyness. only those with time and resources have the luxury of thinking of others, the rest of us are too busy trying to survive.
Don't underestimate the role of teevee today in stifling dissent and manufacturing conformity. right wing, status quo is prevalent on the the plebian method of viewing art.
" [...]The beginning of the 20th century, with the customs restrictions and the arrival of the railway, brought prosperous economic times for the province and its sugarcane production; but, the sugar price crisis of the 1960s led President Juan Carlos Onganía to have eleven large state-owned sugar mills closed in 1966, hitting Tucumán's economy hard.(wikipedia)
more -
"[...]Tucumán is the name of a region in northeastern Argentina whose tropical climate makes it ideal for growing citrus fruits, vegetables, tobacco, and, above all, sugar. In the second half of the 1960s, the agricultural structures in Tucumán were transformed by massive intervention on the part of the government under the dictator Juan Carlos Onganía. The Argentinean government itself spoke of a ?neo-liberal revolution? and named its pilot project ?Operation Tucumán.? The impact of ?Operation Tucumán,? a huge wave of privatization and centralization, led to the closure of many small sugarcane plantations, the rise of precarious forms of labor, and the creation of extreme social hardship." [http://www.wdw.nl/participant.php?part_id=242&id=45]
I agree completely: plebeian as it may be, the mass dissemination of information can spread ignorance like disease and it is evident that the power to mobilize has suffered due to the way media is presented and consumed; i think it's a matter of how that info is processed individually that perhaps can start to create a change in culture outwardly...
-thanks for reading. deegz
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