Project Title: ‘European and Latin American Exchanges: Kinetic Art in the Streets of Paris (1966-1969)’

By the 1960s, Paris had become the preferred destination for several Latin American artists in search for visibility; for access to artworks and cultural networks; and, in some cases, for freedom from the repressive governments of their own countries. The socio-political climate they found in France in the 1960s confirmed their shared belief in the necessity of an art in the street, a democratic art available to all. My project focuses on two case studies: GRAV’s Une journée dans la rue (1966) and Carlos Cruz-Diez’s Chromosaturation (1969). While GRAV (Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel) was a collective of artists from Argentina, Spain, and France, Cruz-Diez was a Venezuelan artist who worked individually. They all practiced around the central hub for Latin Americans in Paris, Galerie Denise René, and emphasised abstraction and kineticism as the most effective ways to restore order in art and, by extension, in life. Both works involved sensorial experiences in the streets of Paris and were designed to deviate people from their daily routines, awakening them from their inattentive interactions with their surroundings. By making citizens responsive to their environment through their senses, these artists were employing a common strategy in Latin American modernism and using it to promote socio-political awareness. My project aims to shed light on the impact that Latin American artists had in 1960s art in Europe, and on transcontinental links between Paris and Latin America.