Latin America in the Biennials of the 1970s: Art, Geopolitics and Identity

Anita Orzes, Ph.D.

This research aims to study the role of biennials in shaping and representing Latin America in the 1970s, both in Latin American and European contexts. The hypothesis is that biennials functioned not merely as exhibition spaces but as platforms of enunciation, geopolitical contestation and identity construction, where the 'Latin American' emerged as a dynamic concept crossed by the aesthetic and political confrontations of the Cold War. While existing scholarship has addressed the role of institutions and art criticism in the construction and evolution of the concept of 'Latin American' within the art world, the role of biennials in this process remains largely unexplored. Focusing on a comparative analysis of key events (including the biennials of Medellín, Cali, São Paulo, Venice and Paris), this research employs methodologies from exhibition studies, global art history and the social and political sciences to trace how these biennials articulated, negotiated and contributed to the construction of the 'Latin American' as an artistic and critical practice, a political stance or a notion of identity.