Alberto Delmonte

Time to Talk

Some four years ago, while having dinner with Juan Acha, an important sociologist and investigator of art in America, in the midst of the conversation he commented: “...what Argentine artists lack is being somewhat belligerant from time to time...”

And that is true, particularly if we take visual artists as a reference. If we remember, we will note that we are as slippery when it comes to definitions as we are lavish with words that make us look good.

So as not to deny the “yo argentino” question.

In regard to this, I remember that I was writing in these same pages last year about the mechanisms of seduction that sectors of traditional leaders have at their disposal. About how their historical and cultural models are used for temptation. How subtly they advise us of the convenience of accepting them. Remaining on the outside implies setbacks, being forgotten and an absence of social prestige.

What I have noted thus far is added in order to solidify a large portion of Argentine visual artists’ capacity for action. They are reluctant or indifferent toward any association or action in common. They do not venture opinions that might compromise them, they seem to be “beyond good and evil”.

Of course it is clear that there is an exception to all this, and that is when they coincide with the dominant culture: they they become “front page news”.

Suddenly, they think in one way as men and as artists, behave just the opposite. This is the “doublespeak” that we so often talk about today.

They are like fallen angels. Satisfied by the praise, or because they know that the final instance that determines the trajectory of works of art, their acceptation and their commercialization is the “official” one, they show a double personality: one for intimacy and a different one for social activity. Like the tero [southern lapwing], they squawk in one place and lay their eggs somewhere else.

I remember an old philosophy professor who used to say something like this: “...the infinite is reflected in the finite, as long as the latter has clarity…” And this involves both concepts and life itself.

To have an opinion and to give it without reservations, without any subaltern speculation. To manifest a defined and forseeable profile is a signal that society is in need of.

This is what we are proposing to do, from our modest location on this side of the continent. This is the reason behind the pages of “El ojo del Río” [magazine], so that some might agree, and others might dissent.

Translation: Tamara Stuby