Center for Art and Communication, Buenes Aires - Special Collecitons - University of Iowa Libraries

MsC 759

Centro de Arte y Comunicación (CAYC)

(CENTER FOR ART AND COMMUNICATION)
BUENOS AIRES

PAPERS
Collection Dates: 1970 -- 1980
1.75 linear ft.

This document describes a collection of materials held by the
Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1420
Phone: 319-335-5921
Fax: 319-335-5900
e-mail: lib-spec@uiowa.edu

Posted to Internet: February 2004

Acquisition Note: CAYC related materials were donated to the University of Iowa by Ken Friedman.

Access and Restrictions:This collection is open for research.

Photographs: Boxes 2 and 3,

Digital Surrogates: Except where indicated, this document describes but does not reproduce the actual text, images and objects which make up this collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections Department.

Copyright: Please read The University of Iowa Libraries' statement on "Property Rights, Copyright Law, and Permissions to Use Unpublished Materials"

Use of Collections: The University of Iowa Libraries supports access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections. Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted by their fragile condition or by contractual agreement with donors, and it may not be possible at all times to provide appropriate machinery for reading, viewing or accessing non-paper-based materials. Please read our Use of Manuscripts Statement .

Abbreviations: For an explanation of the abbreviation and dating conventions used in the finding aid, please see Abbreviations.

History

Committed to the production and dissemination of "systems art," the Buenos Aires-based Centro de Arte y Comunicación was initially established as a multidisciplinary workshop in August of 1968. The University of Iowa's CAYC Collection of large scale works (about 23 x 34 inches) was originally exhibited beginning in 1972 by Jorge Glusberg, Director of the Center for Art and Communication in Buenos Aires. According to Glusberg, the exhibition was designed to address the contributors' shared conviction that "the conflicts caused by unfair social relations that prevail in most latin american [sic] countries show up in the artistic arena as well as in other aspects of the culture." Although originally published by CAYC in an edition of ten and circulated as a traveling exhibition, the ATCA version appears to be the only extant copy of the international activist collaboration. The 1972 exhibition appears to have shown about 72 works; over time, the number of works grew and the Iowa set includes 145 works. All are printed on paper using a diazo process similar to blueprint, although these works appear as dark gray on yellow-gray paper.

Conceptual artists whose works are represented in the collection include Marcel Alocco, Angelo de Aquino, Siah Armajani, Juan Navarro Baldeweg, Alvaro Barrios, Juan Bercetche, Jacques Bedel, Luis Benedit, Juan Bercetche, Shelia Berkley, Antonio Berni, Cesar Bolanos, Lowry Burgess, Elda Cerrato, Jaime Davidovich, Guillemo Deisler, Agnes Denes, Juan Downey, Gregorio Dujovny, Ken Friedman, Jochen Gerz, Carlos Ginzberg, Haroldo Gonzalez, Victor Grippe, Guerrilla Art Action Group, Rafael Hastings, Dick Higgins, Fernando Huici, Peter Kennedy, Richard Kostelanetz, Uzi Kotler, Bernardo Krasniansky, Auro Lecci, Antonio Jose Caro Lopera, Lea Lublin, Francisco Mariotti, Oscar Matera, Julian Mereutza, Carlos Mills, Jorge Gonzalez Mir, Victor Mira, Abraham Moles, Ion Muresanu, Mauricio Nanucci, Moises Nusimovich, Mariano Hernandez Ossorno, Mari Orensanz, Mila Parr, Luis Pazos, Alberto Pellegrino, Alfred Portillos, Alejandro Puente, Gumersindo Quevedo, Juan Carlos Romera, Ricardo Roux, Javier Ruiz, Bernardo Salcedo, Maximo Soto, Julio Teich, Clorindo Testa, Enrique Torroja, Horst Tress, Nicolas Garcia Uriburu, Jiri Valoch, Constantin Xenakis, and Horacio Zabala.

The Iowa set was a component of The University of Iowa's Global Focus: Human Rights celebration and has been exhibited elsewhere is part or whole. A digital version of the exhibit is now available online. This virtual exhibition was funded, in part, by two concurrent grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Prepared by D. Crites, J. Roethler, September 2004.

Scope and Contents

CAYC related materials consist of one copy of each of the poster-size works included in the 1972 circulating and later exhibitions (these are located in map cases in the Special Collections) plus a linear foot of catalogues, documentation, books and pamphlets dating from 1970 to1980 and inventoried here. Boxes 2 and 3 contain black and white photographic prints which were scanned to produce the online images; many of the original works are difficult for a camera to "read" and the prints have were created to increase the brightness and contrast between the foreground ("art") and the background paper..

This is an Alternative Traditions in Contemporary Art collection.

Box List

Box 1

Catalogues/Documentation

Arte y Cibernetica. San Francisco, London, Buenos Aires. April 1971

Art Systems in Latin America. Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, 1974

Bill Vazan. CAYC. Buenos Aires, Argentina (?). 1975

CAYC: Recontre Internationale Ouverte de Video. February 1975, Espace Pierre Cardin, Paris

CAYC: Imágenes. September -- November, 1971, VII Bienal de París

Fotovision: Del Sinathropus Pekinensis Al Hombre Nuevo de China. CAYC, Buenos Aires, Argentina, n.d.

CAYC: De la Figuracion al Arte de Sistemas. El Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes Emilio A. Caraffa, Plaza Espana, Cordoba. August 1970

From Figuration to Sistems Art in Argentina. Center of Art and Communication in Camden Arts Centre, London. February 1971

Japan Video Art Festival. CAYC, Buenos Aires, Argentina, April 1978

Hungria 74. CAYC, Buenos Aires, Argentina, November/December 1974

Nine Days with Dennis Oppenheim. CAYC, Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 1971

Poetry Investigations. CAYC, Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 1972

Parables by Ken Friedman. CAYC, Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 1974

CAYC in Iceland. SUM Gallery, Reykjavik. May 1974

CAYC:20 Artistas Argentinos. Galeria Continental, Lima, Lima, May, 1977.

Latin American Realities/ International Solutions : a Virtual Exhibition. Affiliated with the University of Iowa.

Books

Art and Computers in Latin America. Buenos Aires: Ediciones CAYC, 1973. [In conjunction with the International Conference on Computers in the Humanities, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, July 1973]

Glusberg, Jorge. Dermisache. Buenos Aires: CAYC. December 1973

---- Cool Museums and Hot Museums. Buenos Aires: Ediciones CAYC, 1980

Pamphlets

What is the Center of Art and Communication in Buenos Aires? n.d . [Booklet about CAYC, covers up to approximately 1977]. 2 packets of announcements of shows and projects

Photocopies

Photocopies of CAYC works

Boxes 2-3

Black and white photographic prints (8x10 inches) of the original poster-size works created to inscrease brightness and contrast. The prints are foldered in the same sequence in which the original works are stored and as the online images are organized (alphabetically by surname of artist). Prints for artists with surnames A through O are in Box 2; surnames P through Z in Box 3.

Original art work in 3rd Floor Map Cases with photographic prints in Box 2:

Works from show: Hacia un Perfil del Arte Latinamerico

1-2: marcel alocco the deterioration of america ; unequal partition

3-5: siah armajani quicksilver 2 ; quicksilver bridge 1 ; quicksilver bridge 3

6-7: juan navarro baldeweg cityscape of boston ; transferring ecologic systems

8: alvaro barrios colombia

9-18: jacques bedel estudio para la restauración de un papel de dibujo ;

Study for the restoration of a piece of drawing paper ;

hyphotesis of an earthquake in the city of paris ;

hipótesis para la desaparición del pico ojos del salado (6100m) provincia de catamarca república argentina ;

hypothesis for the disappearance of the peak ojos de salado (6100m) province of catamarca argentina ;

hypothesis for de bombing of st. peters cathedral ;