009

Arte Útil archive nr:

009

Initiator:

Rosario CGT group

Location:

Argentina

Category:

politics, social

Users:

Balvé, Bortolotti, Carnevale, De Nully Brown, Favario, Ferrari, Ghilioni, Giura, Gramuglio, Jacoby, Elizalde, Escandell, Maisonnave, Naranjo, Puzzolo, Pidustwa, Renzi, Rippa, Rosa y Schork. Walsh. In the idea : Carreira, Paksa (Title), Ruano y Suárez.- inhabitants of Tucumán

Maintained by:

Rosario CGT group

Certification:

implemented

Duration:

1968

Rosario CGT group
-
Tucuman Arde

Description:

During the military dictatorship in Argentina political parties, education policies and the mass media were strictly controlled and censored by the government.
The project was conceived for the CGT of Rosario (Argentinean labour union formed by workers, artists and intellectuals) as an intervention in mass communication, generating a circuit of counter information about the situation in Tucumán that opposed that of the the dictatorship.
The decision of the government to close down sugar factories in Tucumán lead people to poverty and starvation.
Within the frame of the First Biennial of Avant-garde Art (1ª Bienal de Arte de Vanguardia), the group developed isolated actions that formed an overall campaign which went un-noticed until its final manifestation: "Tucuman" stickers were placed throughout the city, promoting the biennial, "Tucuman Arde" (Tucuman burns) graffiti and stickers as a political campaign were seen all over the city, travel to Tucuman for the artists participants in the Biennial to research and document the situation and a final exhibition with all the documentation during the opening of the biennial.

Goals:

The artists conceived of art as an effective instrument for social change, and through the Tucuman Arde project they sought to bring the social conditions of the Tucuman province to the attention of a large public.

Beneficial Outcomes:

The public of the exhibition could take away the printed information to disseminate it. In Buenos Aires, the exhibition was closed by the police on the opening day and it was reviewed by different media attracting national attention.

Images: