Alberto Heredia exhibited his Cajas de camembert [Camembert Boxes], “compact worlds of putrefaction,” at the Lirolay gallery42. Fellow rebels of the era were Emilio Renart, with his heterodox constructions, combination of female-biological-allegory object, sculpture and installation, entitled Integralismo-bio cosmos [Integralism-Bio Cosmos], and Aldo Paparella, with his Sugerencias [Suggestions] in wrecked, perforated, cut and assembled metal. Edgardo Giménez began creating absurd objects like El mosquito de angora [The Angora Mosquito] (1963) and La Mamouschka operada [The Operated Mamuschka] (1964). The exhibition of the Nueva Figuraccón group, presented by Romero Brest, was held at the MNBA. Rome. Greco painted slogans like “Painting is dead, Vivo-DitoGreco” in the city’s historical center. He also did the theater piece Cristo 63, which was interrupted by the police. He moved to Madrid and resumed his work on paper and canvas, as well as collages featuring monstrous figures, signs, etc. There, he came into contact with important artists working at the time like Saura, Millares and Lucio Muñoz. He also spent a good deal of time in Pedralves, in Ávila, while he continued working on his Vivo Dito and the series Incorporación de la gente a la tela [Incorporating People onto the Canvas]. He came into contact with Ben Vautier, whom he named “Continuer Nº 6 of Greco-ism in the World.”
1964 Tokyo / New York / London / Paris. Yoko Ono did her performance Cut Piece, in which she invited viewers to cut their clothing. The piece was presented at the Sogetsu Art Center, Tokyo; at the Yamaichi Concert Hall, Kyoto; at Carnegie Hall, New York (1965); at the Africa Centre, London (1966), and at the Ranelagh Theater, Paris (2003), among other venues. Yayoi Kusama (another Japanese artist based in New York) started making environments with phallic-shaped soft elements to which she added mirrors, lights and sounds; she later experimented with the psychedelic. Germany. Vostell, along with Rolf Jährling, presented his nine Décollages in Wuppertal. Paris. Arman began working on his series of burnt objects. In May, Jean-Jacques Lebel and Marc’O organized the First Free Expression Festival at the American Students and Artists Center. It included happenings, film projections, Fluxus concerts, and exhibitions of Pop and New Realist artists. Participants included Georges Brecht, Nam June Paik, Wolf Vostell, and La Monte Young. Carolee Schneeman did the celebrated Meat Joy performance at this festival43. Madrid. Greco founded the Galería Privada Alberto Greco, which opened with an exhibition of works by Lourdes Castro, Christo, Arman, J. Voss and Marta Minujín. Greco did collaborative works with Saura and Millares at this venue. Buenos Aires. Alberto Greco traveled to Buenos Aires, where, on December 9, he presented Mi Madrid querido, Pintura espectáculo Vivo-Dito. Con la colaboración del famoso bailarín español Antonio Gades; presentación de Romero Brest [My Beloved
Madrid, Vivo-Dito Painting Show. With the Collaboration of the Famous Spanish Dancer Antonio Gades; Presentation by Romero Brest], at the Bonino gallery. Participants in the 1964 edition of the Premio Di Tella included Roberto Aizenberg, Osvaldo Borda, Oscar Curtino, Ernesto Deira, Jorge de la Vega, Víctor Magariños D., Martha Peluffo, Carlos Silva, Emilio Renart (winner of the Special Prize for Integralismo bio-cosmos nº 3 [Integralism Bio-Cosmos Nº 3]) and Marta Minujín (National Prize for Eróticos en Technicolor [Erotics in Technicolor] and ¡Revuélquese y viva! [Wallow Around and Live!]). Participants in this year’s edition of the Premio Internacional were Yaacov Agam, Arman, Enrico Baj, Lee Bontecou, Chryssa, Alberto Gironella, Jasper Johns, Julio Le Parc (winner of the Special Prize), Luis Felipe Noé, Kenneth Noland (winner of the First Prize), Robert Rauschenberg, Takis and Joe Tilson. Federico Manuel Peralta Ramos exhibited his striking Informalist paintings with thick impastos at the Witcomb gallery. Because of their size, the paintings could not get into the gallery space, so he cut them into pieces with a saw and then hung the pieces on the wall. Because they had many layers of paint, the works began to drip; Federico was very pleased at the way chance had acted on his work. Berni began working on Los monstruos [The Monsters], a series of large objects made with found and discarded materials. The group exhibition Objetos 64 was held at the MAM. Participants included Santantonín, Edgardo Giménez, Renart, Aizenberg, Wells, Ferrari, Minujín and others. Córdoba. The Second IKA American Art Biennial was held by Industrias Kaiser Argentina. First prize was awarded to Jesús Rafael Soto. New York. Susan Sontag wrote the essay Notes on “Camp”; the text is structured around fifty-eight points that describe the camp aesthetic, emphasizing the frivolous, the artificial and the mannered. The camp aesthetic emerged in the climate of permissiveness and hedonism that characterized that era and its lifestyles. Christo and Jeanne-Claude moved to New York, and their increasingly laborious projects became more and more spectacular and larger in scale. They had an entourage of engineers and lawyers, assistants and installers, working for them as they carried out mega-productions, many of which took years of work, creating rural and urban environments in different cities around the world. Marshall McLuhan published Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (McGraw Hill publishers), on the effects of the mass media on society, culture and persons. Andy Warhol moved his studio to the 4th floor of 231 East 47th Street, and it became known as The Factory or The Silver Factory. He changed his physical appearance: he started wearing a platinum blond wig, tight black jeans, a black leather vest and dark sunglasses, and he started speaking in a voice that sounded like Jackie Kennedy. His factory-studio-home operated like an assembly line, where his assistants and associates maintained a high level of productivity. A very particular sociological environ-
Luis Felipe Noé, in Arte y política de los 60 (exhib. cat.), Buenos Aires, Palais de Glace, 2002. In the words of Carolee Schneemann: “Meat Joy has the character of an erotic rite: excessive, indulgent, a celebration of flesh as material: raw fish, chickens, sausages, wet paint, transparent plastic, rope brushes, paper scrap. Its propulsion is toward the ecstatic—shifting and turning between tenderness, wilderness, precision, abandon: qualities which could at any moment be sensual, comic, joyous, repellent.” 42
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