PERIPHERIC MODERNITIES IN THE INTERNATIONAL ART CIRCUIT IN THE NINETIES

Abstract

The great exhibitions of the early nineties had something in common: they fought for the redefinition of the artistic criteria in opposition of doxa in their respective fields (Bourdieu, 2003: 170). This redefinition led to rethink the relationship between the production of the central countries and the periphery, and increase the circulation of artistic production of the latter in what is called the mainstream of international art. But what were the conditions of this circulation? What were the disputes which took place, and what were the different traditions that were updated for the comprehention of Latin American art, and within this group, of Argentine art? In a circuit where the topic of global art reactivated the old debate on the valuation of works, productions began to circulate regional traits that made them objects of interest. Increased interest in Latin American art in general and Argentina in particular, but the dye exoticized it acquired in some cases the global art discourse conditioned the selection of works and artists. Given this context, we were interested in identifying which particular traditions of Argentine art werw chosen, and in what sense to analyze the different readings.