CHRONOLOGY

Lygi

a P

ape

Tri

odo

emba

lo m

aluc

o (C

razy

Roc

king

Tri

o),

1967

, per

form

ance

at a

qua

rry

near

the

arti

st’s

hom

e,

Rio

de

Jane

iro.

Cou

rtes

y of

Pro

jeto

Lyg

ia P

aper

and

Hau

ser

& W

irth

.

Memories of Underdevelopment: Art and the Decolonial Turn in Latin America, 1960–1985 is set within a particular historical moment, from the height of the modern project in Latin America to its unraveling in the following decades. The exhibition examines a paradigm shift in culture and the visual arts between the early 1960s and the mid‑1980s, which articulates a counter‑narrative to the rhetoric of developmentalism, resulting in early instances of decolonial thought in the artistic practices in the region.

During this period, the problem of underdevelopment was at the forefront of social, economic, and political concerns throughout Latin America. Dependency theory emerged to examine the relationship between inequality and the developmentalist model, and essentially posited that the implementation of developmentalist models would only perpetuate underdevelopment in the region. Intellectuals and artists throughout the region began negotiating the complexities of modernity and its conflictive relation to underdevelopment. Echoing critiques from the field of political economy, they questioned imposed cultural and aesthetic models, marking a critical distance from the canon and formal vocabulary of the modern. These figures reclaimed local forms of knowledge as well as popular and vernacular expressions by recognizing the value of cultural manifestations born out of conditions of material poverty. Likewise, they were aware of the potential effects of the byproducts of intensive industrialization, namely the growing consumer and mass communications cultures.

Many artists, even some who were previously affiliated with modernism in their respective countries, began to establish a dialogic relation to these cultural forms and incorporate them into their own avant‑garde practices. By generating forms of collective experience, they fostered social awareness through shared experiences of perception and participation, which can today be seen as a major paradigm shift after that produced by the experimentation with geometric abstraction characteristic of the modern movements in Latin America.

Memorias del subdesarrollo: arte y el giro descolonial en América Latina, 1960–1985 se establece dentro un momento histórico específico, desde la cúspide del proyecto moderno en Latinoamérica hasta su declive en las siguientes décadas.La exhibición examina un cambio de paradigma en la cultura y las artes visuales entre comienzos de los sesenta y mediados de los ochenta que opuso resistencia a la retórica del desarrollismo y resultó en instancias tempranas de pensamiento descolonial en las prácticas artísticas en la región.

Durante este período, el problema del subdesarrollo estaba al frente de las preocupaciones sociales, económicas y políticas en de toda América Latina. La teoría de la dependencia intentó examinar la relación entre la desigualdad y el modelo desarrollista, y postulaba que la implementación de políticas desarrollistas sólo perpetuaría la condición del subdesarrollo en los países periféricos. Los intelectuales y artistas de la región comenzaron a negociar las complejidades de la modernidad y su relación conflictiva con el subdesarrollo. Haciendo eco de las críticas provenientes del campo de la economía política, cuestionaron los modelos culturales y estéticos impuestos por Occidente, marcando una distancia crítica del canon y el vocabulario formal de lo moderno. De este modo, estas figuras recuperaron saberes locales, expresiones populares y vernáculas dando valor a las manifestaciones culturales producidas en condiciones de pobreza material. Del mismo modo, estaban conscientes de los efectos potenciales de los efectos secundarios de la intensiva industrialización, concretamente las culturas del consumismo y las comunicaciones de masas.

Muchos artistas, incluso algunos que estaban asociados previamente con el modernismo en sus respectivos países, comenzaron a establecer una relación dialógica con estas formas culturales y las incorporaron en sus propias prácticas de vanguardia. Generando formas de experiencia colectiva, fomentaron la conciencia social a través de experiencias compartidas de percepción y participación, que pueden ser consideradas hoy en día como un cambio de paradigma significativo después de aquel producido por experimentación con la abstracción geométrica característica de los movimientos modernos en Latinoamérica.

CHRONOLOGY

Lygi

a P

ape

Tri

odo

emba

lo m

aluc

o (C

razy

Roc

king

Tri

o),

1967

, per

form

ance

at a

qua

rry

near

the

arti

st’s

hom

e,

Rio

de

Jane

iro.

Cou

rtes

y of

Pro

jeto

Lyg

ia P

aper

and

Hau

ser

& W

irth

.Memories of Underdevelopment: Art and the Decolonial Turn in Latin America, 1960–1985 is set within a particular historical moment, from the height of the modern project in Latin America to its unraveling in the following decades. The exhibition examines a paradigm shift in culture and the visual arts between the early 1960s and the mid‑1980s, which articulates a counter‑narrative to the rhetoric of developmentalism, resulting in early instances of decolonial thought in the artistic practices in the region.

During this period, the problem of underdevelopment was at the forefront of social, economic, and political concerns throughout Latin America. Dependency theory emerged to examine the relationship between inequality and the developmentalist model, and essentially posited that the implementation of developmentalist models would only perpetuate underdevelopment in the region. Intellectuals and artists throughout the region began negotiating the complexities of modernity and its conflictive relation to underdevelopment. Echoing critiques from the field of political economy, they questioned imposed cultural and aesthetic models, marking a critical distance from the canon and formal vocabulary of the modern. These figures reclaimed local forms of knowledge as well as popular and vernacular expressions by recognizing the value of cultural manifestations born out of conditions of material poverty. Likewise, they were aware of the potential effects of the byproducts of intensive industrialization, namely the growing consumer and mass communications cultures.

Many artists, even some who were previously affiliated with modernism in their respective countries, began to establish a dialogic relation to these cultural forms and incorporate them into their own avant‑garde practices. By generating forms of collective experience, they fostered social awareness through shared experiences of perception and participation, which can today be seen as a major paradigm shift after that produced by the experimentation with geometric abstraction characteristic of the modern movements in Latin America.

Memorias del subdesarrollo: arte y el giro descolonial en América Latina, 1960–1985 se establece dentro un momento histórico específico, desde la cúspide del proyecto moderno en Latinoamérica hasta su declive en las siguientes décadas.La exhibición examina un cambio de paradigma en la cultura y las artes visuales entre comienzos de los sesenta y mediados de los ochenta que opuso resistencia a la retórica del desarrollismo y resultó en instancias tempranas de pensamiento descolonial en las prácticas artísticas en la región.

Durante este período, el problema del subdesarrollo estaba al frente de las preocupaciones sociales, económicas y políticas en de toda América Latina. La teoría de la dependencia intentó examinar la relación entre la desigualdad y el modelo desarrollista, y postulaba que la implementación de políticas desarrollistas sólo perpetuaría la condición del subdesarrollo en los países periféricos. Los intelectuales y artistas de la región comenzaron a negociar las complejidades de la modernidad y su relación conflictiva con el subdesarrollo. Haciendo eco de las críticas provenientes del campo de la economía política, cuestionaron los modelos culturales y estéticos impuestos por Occidente, marcando una distancia crítica del canon y el vocabulario formal de lo moderno. De este modo, estas figuras recuperaron saberes locales, expresiones populares y vernáculas dando valor a las manifestaciones culturales producidas en condiciones de pobreza material. Del mismo modo, estaban conscientes de los efectos potenciales de los efectos secundarios de la intensiva industrialización, concretamente las culturas del consumismo y las comunicaciones de masas.

Muchos artistas, incluso algunos que estaban asociados previamente con el modernismo en sus respectivos países, comenzaron a establecer una relación dialógica con estas formas culturales y las incorporaron en sus propias prácticas de vanguardia. Generando formas de experiencia colectiva, fomentaron la conciencia social a través de experiencias compartidas de percepción y participación, que pueden ser consideradas hoy en día como un cambio de paradigma significativo después de aquel producido por experimentación con la abstracción geométrica característica de los movimientos modernos en Latinoamérica.

Abridged chronology, layout inspired by Hélio Oiticica’s Metaesquemas. For additional historical and cultural context visit our website at www.mcasd.org/learn/educators

1951–Brazil hosts the first Sao Paulo Biennial, helping to advance Brazilian Concrete Art.

1962–Former Colombian dictator, Gustavo Rojas, is denied from running for presidency.

1972–Brazil’s Poema/Processo stops due to pressure from the military dictatorship.

1980–Oil prices plummet and Venezuela faces an economic crisis.

1981–Argentine dictator Videla relinquishes power to Roberto Viola after 6,500 dissidents “disappear.”

1984–One million people demonstrate against the dictatorship in São Paulo, Brazil.

1985–The Brazilian military junta collapses and Tancredo Neves is elected president–the first civilian president in 21 years, but he dies and is replaced by his vice-president, Joseph Sarney.

1983–The Military junta collapses and Raul Alfonsin is elected president of Argentina, marking the end of the Dirty War.

1973–Pinochet takes power in Chile.

1966–General Juan Carlos Ongania leads a coup d’etat and sets up a military Junta, shuts down congress, bans all political parties, and dismantles unions in Argentina.

1967–The Museo de Arte Moderna de Rio de Janeiro inaugurates Hélio Oiticica’s exhibition Nueva Objetividad Brasilera. Poema/Processo movement begins in Brazil.

1974–Perón dies, and his then wife, María Estela Martínez de Perón, who was vice presidente, takes power. She signs a secret decree to allow the military to “annihilate” the left.

1964–Raul Leoni of Accion Democratica wins elections in Venezuela.Brazil’s student riots give way to the deposition of Joao Goulart.

1952–A group of Brazilian artists led by Ivan Serpa, Hélio Oiticica, Aluísio Carvão, Lygia Clark, and Lygia Pape form El Grupo Frente, which remains active through 1964.

1958– Venezuela’s dictator Perez Jimenez resigns following widespread demonstrations.

1959–Venezuelan political parties sign the Pacto de Punto Fijo, a pact to guarantee a new democracy.

1968–In Peru, General Juan Velasco Alvarado overthrows elected President Fernando Belaúnde Terry of the Popular Action Party.

1975–In Peru, General Francisco Morales Bermúdez overthrows General Juan Velasco Alvarado.

1978–Brazil’s GDP quintupled since 1960 (making it the eighth industrial power in the West), and the number of college students increased to almost 1.5 million.

1979–After losing the Falkland War, Gen. Reynaldo Bignone is installed as president and general elections are announced; armed forces conceal evidence of crimes committed during the Dirty War.

1977–Peruvian president Francisco Morales presents the four-year “Túpac Amaru Plan,” designed to return the country to civilian rule, reduce state control of the economy, and encourage foreign investment.

1976–Argentina’s Dirty War begins, persecuting and killing thousands of supposed terrorists and terrorist sympathizers. The decade-long campaign waged by Argentina’s military dictatorship against suspected left-wing political opponents that killed between 10,000 and 30,000 citizens.

Venezuela nationalizes all oil fields and US-owned iron mines.

1969–Cordobazo and Rosariazo Uprisings occur in Argentina against the military dictatorship.

1971– Large-scale demonstrations erupt against Allende’s government in Chile.

1960–Venezuela and Arab countries establish OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries). Janio Quadros resignation leads to a political crisis in Brazil.

1955– A military coup deposes Peron in Argentina.

1957–La Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) is founded in Argentina.

1956– Minas Gerais’s governor Juscelino Kubitschek is elected president of Brazil, despite the fact that his opponent won more votes, and he establishes a new capital, Brasilia.

The urban plan of Brasilia is executed by Lúcio Costa. Architect Oscar Niemeyer designs the Senate, Secretariat, and Congressional buildings.

The Institue Torcuato di Tella is established in Argentina as an artistic and intellectual hub.

Brazilian poet and critic Ferreira Gullar publishes the Neo Concrete Manifesto.

Brazil experiences a cultural boom, post-coup, with the development of Cinema Novo, Bossa Nova, and Tropicalismo.

Chile’s communist poet Pablo Neruda is awarded the Nobel Prize in literature.

Venezuela profits from oil crisis as price of oil skyrockets.

The US suspends the military treaty with Brazil to protest violations of human rights.

Protests begin in Chile lasting until ‘88 when Augusto Pinochet loses a referendum in Chile and resigns–ending the military dictatorship that killed 3,197 civilians in 16 years.