35th Association of Art Historians Annual Conference
2 - 4 April 2009
Manchester Metropolitan University, MIRIAD

CALL FOR PAPERS

Modernism and Antropofagia:
Visual Culture and Authenticity in Latin America

Session Convenor: Fabiola Martinez, Department of Modern Languages and
the Arts
Saint Louis University, Madrid Campus

The development of modern art in Latin America presents an interesting
platform from which to explore the intersections and dialogues between
dominant art historical discourses, and the articulation of non-
Western art practices and ideas. In 1921 David Alfaro Siqueiros wrote
from Barcelona "Let us reject theories anchored in the relativity of
'national art'. We must become universal! Our own racial and regional
physiognomy will always show through in our work." Like Siqueiros,
many artists and intellectuals in Latin America were engaged in a
complex dialogue between the external demands of modernity and local
demands for cultural authenticity. As the many manifestos published
during the twentieth century testify, artists and intellectuals in
Latin America were trying to mediate international modernism with
local traditions and popular culture (often associated with notions of
authenticity).

This session invites proposals that address the study of modernism and
avant-garde movements in Latin America. Papers may investigate the
gradual incorporation of new media and technologies as practices that
mediated between local and external discourses on art and modernity;
and the way in which the avant-garde's experimentation with industrial
materials, for example, often responded to the artist's response to
cosmopolitan modernism and his/her identification or rejection of
national stereotypes. Studies may also look at the debates and the
significance of abstraction as a language denoting universal and
aesthetic principles, and figuration as a way to express ideologies
and explicit references to cultural authenticity. Following Oswald de
Andrade's concept of Antropofagia this session will therefore present
an opportunity to address the significance of visual culture in Latin
America, as a means to mediate and articulate local and external
discourses, acknowledging in this way its contribution to the history
of modern art.

If you would like to offer a paper, please send an abstract of your
proposed paper in no more than 250 words, and your name and
institutional affiliation (if any) to:
Fabiola Martinez
martinezfmadrid.slu.edu
Deadline for submission of papers: 10 November 2008