On July 3, the exhibition Contemporary experiences of Argentine art was inaugurated at the Bon Marché space of the Borges Cultural Center. This is an exhibition that displays 75 works selected from the collection of the Palais de Glace.
The curators of the exhibition, who are members of the Palais de Glace team, write that they sought to "put the focus on the collection, which is arranged in a choreographic way. The works, coming from different temporalities and production environments, are exhibited as a large installation, with the aim of promoting new intersections and contemporary readings of the collection." Indeed, the exhibition is a look at the heritage of the National Palace of Arts, and through it, at the development of Argentine visual arts in the last century.
Works of ceramics, textiles and sculptures in various materials. In the foreground Situación Mudable by Ariadna Pastorini, First Acquisition Prize of the National Salon of Visual Arts 2017. Photograph by the author.
Constructed as an installation, the exhibition does not display the pieces sequentially or chronologically, but rather seeking an active immersion of the spectator, inhabiting the here and now. The installation highlights the act of selecting the pieces presented and raises new criteria and unexpected links between existing objects, hence the expression Contemporary experiences of Argentine art for an exhibition that includes works from the past. We see a video by Florencia Levy, Landscape for a person, Acquisition Prize for the Third Best Work National Visual Arts Salon 2019, together with an oil painting by Oscar Pedro Ferrarotti, Suggestions, Grand Prize of Honor of the National Visual Arts Salon 1972, and Canción de cuna, etching by Eloísa Moras, Acquisition National Visual Arts Salon 1949; or in another sector, a sculpture by Juan Pablo Marturano from his series Folds and prayers, Grand Acquisition Prize National Visual Arts Salon 2017, together with the ceramic Vase with figures by Rodolfo Eduardo Curcio, First Prize Annual Ceramic Art Salon 1966.
The granite sculpture by Juan Pablo Marturano from his series Pliegues y plegarias, Grand Prize Acquisition National Salon of Visual Arts 2017, in dialogue with the ceramic Vase with figures by Rodolfo Eduardo Curcio, First Prize Annual Salon of Ceramic Art 1966. Photograph by the author.
Poem, plaster by Eduardo A. Daulte, First National Prize for Plastic Arts 1954. Photograph by the author.
Since 1911, the National Salon of Visual Arts
“Grand Prize of Honor”, “Acquisition Prize”, we read next to the titles of most of the works exhibited. In effect, the collection of the Palais de Glace is made up of 1,200 works, most of them acquired by the prizes of the National Salon, the oldest and most important artistic competition in our country.
Let us review its history. It was born in 1911, in the spirit of the celebrations of the Centenary of the May Revolution. During that first edition, and in those of 1912 and 1913 it was called the National Art Exhibition, from 1914 to 1943 the event was called the National Salon of Fine Arts, between 1944 and 1999 it was known as the National Salon of Plastic Arts, and since 2000 it has been called the National Salon of Visual Arts. In other words, each period named it with the fashionable academic nomenclature of its time. The categories also evolved. In its first two editions it began only with Painting and Sculpture. Architecture was added in 1913, until 1925, and Decorative Arts, until 1919. Engraving was then incorporated in 1948, which was renamed Graphics in 2022. And drawing continued in 1951, as the “National Salon of Engraving and Drawing”; Visual Research from 1968 to 1971; Photographic Art in 1974, as the “National Salon of Photographic Art”, and since 1986 Photography; Ceramic Art in 1976, as the “National Salon of Ceramic Art”, from 2015 to 2021 Ceramics, and since 2022 Fire Arts; Tapestries in 1978, as the “National Salon of Tapestries”, which in 1982 was renamed Textile Art, and since 2015, Textile. Electronic Arts was incorporated in 2000, in 2001 it was called Installations, from 2002 to 2014 New Supports and Installations, and since 2015 Installations and Alternative Media -this whole set could be considered the continuation of Visual Investigations- and finally in 2022 it was incorporated as Non-Disciplinary Space. A list that reflects the aesthetic paradigms of each era, as we see in the incorporation of photography as art in the last quarter of the 20th century, or that of new media such as ephemeral art, performance, electronic arts or interdisciplinary arts already in the new millennium; or on the contrary, in the withdrawal of decorative arts and architecture from the orbit of fine arts/plastic arts/visual arts, evidencing the ill-fated uprooting of both disciplines from aesthetics, surviving only in the utilitarian sphere.
The venue of the National Salon exhibition also underwent numerous changes in its 113 years of life. Between 1911 and 1931 the Salon exhibitions were held at the headquarters of the National Commission of Fine Arts, on Arenales Street. From 1932 to 1954 it was its headquarters without interruption at the Palais de Glace. Between 1955 and 1960, the Palais served as an annex to the central studios of Channel 7, which led to the Salon being held in other spaces: in 1956 and 1957 at the National Museum of Fine Arts, in 1958 at the National Congress, and in 1959 at the Honorable Deliberative Council of the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires. In 1960, the Palais de Glace once again became an exhibition hall. Since then and until 2017, with a few exceptions, the National Salon exhibitions were held there. Since the end of that year, the building has been undergoing restoration work, so successive editions were held at the Kirchner Cultural Center, the Casa Nacional de Bicentenario, and the Borges Cultural Center.
Oblique Lonomia by Adriana Antidin, a work made of fabric, wire, aluminum, plastic beads and thread, 176 cm. First Prize Acquisition National Salon of Visual Arts 2016. Photograph by the author.
It could be said that the entire history of the National Salon, which is the history of the national visual arts of the last 113 years - with its praiseworthy successes and terrible errors, centralisms and exclusions - converge in the exhibition Contemporary Experiences of Argentine Art. As a great choral work, ceramics, sculptures, textiles, paintings, engravings, drawings, photographs and videos coexist and display new meanings.
The exhibition can be visited from Wednesday to Sunday from 2 to 8 pm with free admission at the Espacio Bon Marché on the 2nd floor of the Borges Cultural Center, Viamonte 525 CABA. Until September 1, 2024.
* From Hilario's Editorial Staff.