Abigail McEwen: Archiving Modern Latin American Art: Sites, Students and Collaboration in the Greater Washington Area
-
0:01 - 0:03I'll turn over to you
-
0:03 - 0:05and you guys take it away!
-
0:05 - 0:09Ok, well thank you Neil
and also thank you to Jennifer Giuliano -
0:10 - 0:10with whom I've corresponded
but not met. -
0:13 - 0:16Thank you for helping me set up today
but also for the invitation -
0:16 - 0:18to share a work in progress
-
0:18 - 0:22on the documents of 20th century
Latin American and Latino art -
0:23 - 0:25in shorthand, just
The Documents Project -
0:25 - 0:27is probably a bit easier.
-
0:28 - 0:32I'm Abbie McEwen, Assistant Professor
in the department of Art History -
0:32 - 0:33here at Maryland.
-
0:33 - 0:36I'm very pleased to have two co-presenters
this afternoon. -
0:36 - 0:39Olga Herrera
who is our team leader -
0:39 - 0:40here in Washington DC
-
0:40 - 0:45hosting an inter-university program
on Latino research -
0:46 - 0:48currently at Notre Dame
but moving to Texas? -
0:48 - 0:52Moving to the University of Illinois
in Chicago, July 1st. -
0:52 - 0:53Ah, ok.
-
0:54 - 0:58And then also [unclear]
an undergraduate student at Maryland. -
0:58 - 1:01Already a graduate,
back for his second degree -
1:01 - 1:02in Art History.
-
1:03 - 1:06He's a student, enrolled
in a directive study with me -
1:06 - 1:12this spring, engaged with the documents
at the Archives of American Art. -
1:12 - 1:17And then folding his research
into a paper I've hijacked -
1:17 - 1:19for our art course.
-
1:20 - 1:25I've imagined this dialog I'm holding
maybe in four parts today. -
1:25 - 1:29First we would like to introduce
the larger project -
1:29 - 1:33based at the International Center
for the Arts of the Americas -
1:33 - 1:37the ICAA, at the Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston. -
1:37 - 1:40A project that was first conceived
back in 2002. -
1:41 - 1:45It's absolutely an international,
inter-American kind of initiative -
1:45 - 1:48and we'll speak a bit, too,
of the project's scope -
1:48 - 1:49as a whole
-
1:49 - 1:51in part through a film,
which actually explains it -
1:51 - 1:54visually in much greater detail
than I can. -
1:55 - 1:55Then we'd like to talk
-
1:55 - 1:59about the work of the Washington
working group. -
2:00 - 2:03Olga and I met, I think,
just about a year ago. -
2:03 - 2:07We kind of talked about this collaboration
-
2:08 - 2:10we officially launched our project
in July. -
2:10 - 2:14And so we're more than halfway
through the recovery project -
2:14 - 2:20and we'll speak a bit to our work
and what we have targeted -
2:20 - 2:25as the archives, the documents
to recover from this area. -
2:25 - 2:29And third, I'd like to speak
a bit to the pedagogical aspect -
2:29 - 2:30of this project.
-
2:30 - 2:32Not all of the teams have engaged
students -
2:32 - 2:36both undergraduate
and graduate students, but here -
2:36 - 2:38hopefully first in Colombia,
but certainly in Washington -
2:38 - 2:41that has seemed to be
an essential part of our work -
2:41 - 2:44and we have a number of students
-
2:44 - 2:45not only at Maryland,
-
2:45 - 2:48but at George Mason,
and American University, -
2:48 - 2:50who are real contributors
to this project. -
2:51 - 2:53And it's been exciting
and really rewarding, I think -
2:53 - 2:58for all of us to involve our students
and our roles in teaching -
2:58 - 3:01along with this kind of project.
-
3:01 - 3:05At the end, we would hope to have
a real dialog about... -
3:06 - 3:10certainly on the one hand
the role and the purpose -
3:10 - 3:12of this kind of recovery project
-
3:12 - 3:16but also with the challenges
that we have faced. -
3:16 - 3:18Certainly conceptually, structurally.
-
3:19 - 3:21It is, after all, an edited archive.
-
3:21 - 3:23But also practically, on the ground.
-
3:23 - 3:28Fundraising, scanning, all of the
nitty gritty details -
3:28 - 3:31that can be challenging, I guess.
-
3:33 - 3:35So, I guess we can get started.
-
3:36 - 3:38I should say, just on a kind of...
-
3:39 - 3:43of a primer to introducing the work
of the team at Houston -
3:43 - 3:48this is I think the most recent poster
which presents the documents -
3:48 - 3:52as real art objects,
almost in themselves. -
3:53 - 3:58The sub-field of modern Latin American art
even within the field of Art History -
3:58 - 3:59is rather new.
-
4:00 - 4:04It's come into its own
perhaps only in the last two decades -
4:04 - 4:05or so.
-
4:05 - 4:08Certainly now it's one
of the hotter fields. -
4:08 - 4:12We hope it's still continuing to trend
upward within the discipline. -
4:13 - 4:16But what has impeded,
or held back scholarship -
4:16 - 4:20has been the lack of access
to primary sources. -
4:20 - 4:24And the lack of a kind of basic
taxonomy of the field. -
4:24 - 4:26Who were the key players?
-
4:26 - 4:29Not only the artists, but the critics,
the curators -
4:29 - 4:33from all of these parts of,
I guess we'll call it, art world -
4:34 - 4:37that have shaped the 20th century
of the Americas. -
4:37 - 4:40And that this impediment to scholarship,
-
4:40 - 4:45this lack of access
and knowledge was, I believe, -
4:45 - 4:48really the jumping off point
for this archive. -
4:48 - 4:54Which was conceived
by a real leader in our field -
4:54 - 4:59Mari Carmen Ramirez, a curator,
since 2002 -
4:59 - 5:01at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
-
5:01 - 5:06She has really pioneered
her scholarship in the field -
5:06 - 5:09in a way, shaped
current trends in research -
5:09 - 5:12around modern and contemporary
Latin American art. -
5:13 - 5:17Based through her real research.
-
5:18 - 5:21And it's a credit to her exhibitions
that she's put out -
5:21 - 5:23in the past three years in Houston,
-
5:23 - 5:26and previously at
the Blanton Museum in Austin, -
5:27 - 5:30that her shows have been bracketing,
-
5:30 - 5:34and really built up by
her serious scholarship -
5:35 - 5:39In 2002, just about 10 years ago,
-
5:39 - 5:43she assembled, or began to assemble
-
5:43 - 5:46different teams across the Americas.
-
5:46 - 5:47And these are two maps.
-
5:47 - 5:52One, the more topical,
looking at the art movements -
5:52 - 5:56and the other, with more speaking about--
-
5:56 - 5:58looking at the different teams
that have been assembled -
5:58 - 6:00in these different cities
-
6:00 - 6:03stretching across the Americas,
from the United States -
6:03 - 6:07down into Argentina and Chile.
-
6:07 - 6:10A couple of these teams
have already reported. -
6:10 - 6:12- I think Mexico has reported?
- Ah, yes. -
6:12 - 6:17Mexico and the US team,
the component from UCLA -
6:17 - 6:21that managed the activities
in Puerto Rico, in Miami -
6:21 - 6:23and New York and California, as well.
-
6:23 - 6:26And the other day we did
the Mid-West section of the country -
6:27 - 6:29We have Mexico and Argentina as well.
-
6:29 - 6:33All the teams have completed the work,
-
6:33 - 6:36but it has the process
-
6:36 - 6:39of this documentation, takes 2 years
approximately, per team. -
6:40 - 6:43So these are the documents
that have been uploaded now -
6:43 - 6:44and are accessible to the public.
-
6:44 - 6:48The other teams have completed the work
such as the teams -
6:48 - 6:49from Venezuela, from Peru
-
6:49 - 6:52and as well as Brazil
-
6:52 - 6:55that will be coming up
in the next two years -
6:55 - 6:58we'll be adding periodically
to the database -
6:58 - 7:00to building the digital archive.
-
7:02 - 7:04So, the work is in progress.
-
7:04 - 7:07I suppose we, in Washington,
are part of a second generation -
7:07 - 7:10of teams that have been planned,
-
7:10 - 7:14and I think more teams, more projects
-
7:14 - 7:18already are targeted for coming years.
-
7:19 - 7:21I guess now, I'll check now...
-
7:21 - 7:23Certainly I can answer questions
that you may have -
7:23 - 7:25about the larger project.
-
7:25 - 7:30It may be more helpful to hear
about the project from the creators -
7:30 - 7:33just to say, Mari Carmen Ramirez
and you'll hear a few other voices -
7:33 - 7:35in this film.
-
7:41 - 7:43♪ (Latin American guitar music) ♪
-
7:53 - 7:55(Mari Carmen Ramirez) The ICAA
stands for -
7:55 - 7:57the International Center for the Art
of America. -
7:58 - 8:00This is the only center of its kind
in the world. -
8:01 - 8:05And initially we established the center
to promote the work -
8:05 - 8:07of Latin American and Latino artists.
-
8:08 - 8:10To organize exhibitions,
to organize symposia -
8:10 - 8:15and really serve as a kind of think tank
-
8:15 - 8:17about Latin American and Latino art.
-
8:17 - 8:22One of the main problems
is the lack of proper infrastructure -
8:22 - 8:24commended to archives.
-
8:24 - 8:29And out of that came the idea
to establish a very ambitious initiative -
8:29 - 8:32which is the ICAA Documents Project.
-
8:36 - 8:39(Peter Marzio) One of the very important
aspects of this project -
8:39 - 8:44is that the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
is not collecting these documents. -
8:44 - 8:47The documents are staying
in their home countries -
8:47 - 8:51under the care of the archivists
or the librarians who are in charge of them. -
8:52 - 8:54That's the beauty of the new technology.
-
8:54 - 8:56(Mari Carmen Ramirez) It's a kind of
super highway -
8:56 - 8:59that allows us to connect
-
8:59 - 9:02all the major countries of the region
-
9:02 - 9:05through a network of professionals
that are dedicated -
9:05 - 9:08towards recovering
the intellectual production -
9:08 - 9:11of the artists and movements
of the region. -
9:12 - 9:15Since 2004, we've had ten teams
-
9:15 - 9:18working as part of
the ICAA Documents Project. -
9:18 - 9:22These teams have been operating
out of Buenos Aires, Argentina -
9:22 - 9:23Santiago, Chile
-
9:23 - 9:24Sao Paolo, Brazil
-
9:24 - 9:26Lima, Peru
-
9:26 - 9:27Bogota, Colombia
-
9:27 - 9:28Caracas, Venezuela
-
9:28 - 9:30Mexico City, Mexico
-
9:30 - 9:34and in the United States,
out of Los Angeles at UCLA -
9:34 - 9:37and Sound Bend, Indiana
at Notre Dame University. -
9:37 - 9:39There have also been researchers
-
9:39 - 9:42affiliated to the UCLA
and Notre Dame teams -
9:42 - 9:45operating out of San Juan,
Puerto Rico -
9:45 - 9:48New York, Washington DC,
and Miami. -
9:48 - 9:51The research from all these teams
is then funneled -
9:51 - 9:55to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,
which is the headquarters for the ICAA. -
9:56 - 10:01They were housed and supported
by a number of partner institutions -
10:01 - 10:05that range from universities
to museums. -
10:05 - 10:09Those teams are responsible
for recovering documents. -
10:09 - 10:13Documents that have been written
by artists, critics and curators -
10:14 - 10:15of the 20th century.
-
10:15 - 10:18And that provide us with the insight
-
10:18 - 10:21into the intellectual foundation
of that art. -
10:21 - 10:25The central team in Houston is responsible
for processing those documents -
10:25 - 10:28and putting them up into a website
-
10:28 - 10:32where they will be available to anyone
who wants to have access to them -
10:32 - 10:35free of charge, anywhere in the world.
-
10:36 - 10:38(Peter Marzio) You get the information
out there, -
10:38 - 10:40it touches a nerve, it excites people.
-
10:40 - 10:42People want to study more.
-
10:42 - 10:44Eventually they want to collect,
-
10:44 - 10:47they want to collect, trust me,
there'll be dealers there -
10:47 - 10:49who will want them to collect.
-
10:50 - 10:54Eventually those works of art,
or some of them, anyway -
10:54 - 10:56will find their ways into museums.
-
10:57 - 10:59You'll begin to develop departments
-
10:59 - 11:02of Latin American art
across the United States. -
11:03 - 11:04With the departments
of Latin American art, -
11:04 - 11:06you'll get more students.
-
11:06 - 11:10More students will lead to more patrons,
more patrons will lead to more dealers -
11:10 - 11:11and so forth.
-
11:11 - 11:15It's almost like a forest fire
-
11:15 - 11:17if you get it going in the right way,
-
11:17 - 11:20and all starts with this simple project
-
11:20 - 11:22here at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
-
11:22 - 11:25and that's what excites me about it.
-
11:25 - 11:27is that it's so catalytic.
-
11:27 - 11:29(Dr Edward Sullivan) Latin American art
certainly should become -
11:29 - 11:31part of the worldwide project
of Modernism. -
11:31 - 11:34And understanding the role
of the modern world -
11:34 - 11:37in the manifestations of art
throughout the world -
11:37 - 11:41whether it be Asia, Australia,
or the US, Americas -
11:41 - 11:46and certain Latin America is a critical
component of this discourse -
11:46 - 11:52this history and the access to documents
and the access to the actual material -
11:52 - 11:55written at the moment when the art
was happening -
11:55 - 11:56is a major tool.
-
11:56 - 11:59(Mari Carmen Herrera) In addition
to the digital archive -
11:59 - 12:03we're also publishing a 13-volume
book series -
12:03 - 12:06that accompanies the digital archive.
-
12:06 - 12:10It's called "Critical Documents
of Latin American and Latino Art" -
12:10 - 12:14the books, in many ways, serve
as a guide to the archive. -
12:14 - 12:19(Peter Marzio) There will be 13 published
volumes, which will be translated -
12:19 - 12:24which serve as the leading
primary documents in the various fields -
12:24 - 12:26of Latin American art.
-
12:26 - 12:30And my hope is that students in college,
-
12:30 - 12:34particularly freshmen who don't have
Portuguese or Spanish -
12:34 - 12:40will be able to take a course
in 101 level Latin American art. -
12:41 - 12:44That hasn't been possible until now.
-
12:48 - 12:50(Mari Carmen Herrera) We have
some of the sketches -
12:50 - 12:53and particularly the color charts,
that Helio Oiticica used -
12:53 - 12:56in the creation of his Grand Nucleus
which is a work -
12:56 - 12:57that has been partially lost.
-
12:58 - 13:02So, these things will be of use
to researchers in the future. -
13:02 - 13:06I'll go back and try to recreate
what this work was all about -
13:06 - 13:09and how the artist made it work.
-
13:10 - 13:12We have other instances, for instance,
-
13:12 - 13:15in relation to the artist Leon Ferrari
-
13:15 - 13:17where we have a number
of documents in the archive -
13:17 - 13:20where he is performing sketches
or other works -
13:20 - 13:24or writing down thoughts
that pertain to works -
13:24 - 13:26that he was in the process of creating.
-
13:26 - 13:28And there are many more instances
-
13:28 - 13:31of these kinds of documents
in the archive. -
13:31 - 13:34♪ (Latin American guitar music) ♪
-
13:40 - 13:42I wouldn't say that there are new
movements and artists -
13:42 - 13:44that have been discovered,
so much as artists -
13:44 - 13:47that have been re-assessed
-
13:47 - 13:51as a result of this project.
-
13:51 - 13:55And, for instance, I can cite
the specific case -
13:55 - 13:58of the Guatemalan artist Carlos Merida.
-
13:59 - 14:02who did most of his career
in Mexico City. -
14:02 - 14:07And he's an artist that most of us
in the field knew -
14:07 - 14:09as having been a producer.
-
14:10 - 14:15But I think very few people knew
the extent of his writing. -
14:15 - 14:18And it turns out
that he was a very prolific writer. -
14:18 - 14:23He had some very, very illuminating ideas
about the art of his times. -
14:23 - 14:26And he was also writing about the art
of his contemporaries. -
14:29 - 14:32People tend to associate
Latin American art -
14:32 - 14:36with so-called "magic realism".
-
14:36 - 14:40The reality is, that ever since
the 1920s and 30s -
14:40 - 14:43there have been many important
Latin American artists -
14:43 - 14:46and many important groups of artists
-
14:46 - 14:48who set out to recover
-
14:48 - 14:52and to assimilate important aspects
of the avant garde -
14:52 - 14:54in Europe and North America.
-
14:54 - 14:57And these artists not only assimilated
those principles -
14:57 - 15:00but they also
did something new with it. -
15:00 - 15:04And in many cases,
they anticipated developments -
15:04 - 15:06in the United States and Europe
-
15:06 - 15:09so that there has been,
in Latin America, -
15:09 - 15:13original thinking
and production of art. -
15:13 - 15:17And that is, perhaps,
the biggest accomplishment -
15:17 - 15:19that I hope this project can achieve.
-
15:19 - 15:22It's one thing to say,
"Latin American art is not derivative" -
15:22 - 15:25but to really show
why it's not derivative -
15:25 - 15:28and to provide the evidence,
the concrete evidence -
15:28 - 15:30what these artists were thinking.
-
15:30 - 15:32That is what
we are setting out to do. -
15:32 - 15:34♪ (Latin American guitar music) ♪
-
15:44 - 15:47(Dr. Edward Sullivan) For graduate
students, this project will be -
15:47 - 15:49of immense use and immense interest.
-
15:49 - 15:53The access to documents,
and the access to the actual material -
15:53 - 15:56written at the moment
when the art was happening -
15:56 - 16:00is a major tool to understand
the developments -
16:00 - 16:02of these art movements
in Latin America. -
16:02 - 16:05(Mari Carmen Herrera) I see the ICAA
Documents Project -
16:05 - 16:10as being really
just the beginning of this effort. -
16:10 - 16:13We would like to find ways
to continue to expand the project. -
16:13 - 16:15And it will be up to future scholars
-
16:15 - 16:18to really make something out of this
-
16:18 - 16:24and to continue to build what could
become a really true amazing resource -
16:24 - 16:26for the development of the field.
-
16:27 - 16:29♪ (Latin American guitar music) ♪
-
16:39 - 16:42Ok, so that was
their presentation of the film. -
16:44 - 16:47The film is available on Vimeo
-
16:47 - 16:51and also on the MFA Houston's webpage,
-
16:51 - 16:55should you wish to re-watch it.
-
16:55 - 17:00Certainly we can go now
or even later this afternoon -
17:00 - 17:02to the webpage.
-
17:02 - 17:06This is a screenshot from last week.
-
17:06 - 17:11This is what it actually looks like
when you login to the document's homepage. -
17:13 - 17:17There's a bit of background history
of the project. -
17:17 - 17:20The documents, certainly,
-
17:20 - 17:243,700 or so catalogued to date.
-
17:24 - 17:28I think the queue, Mari had told us,
was a few thousand this summer. -
17:28 - 17:32I imagine it's even longer now.
-
17:32 - 17:36But this is some of the homepage
of the Documents Project -
17:36 - 17:43as it has looked since the digital archive
launched a year ago January. -
17:43 - 17:45So, we're just into the second year.
-
17:47 - 17:51Mari Carmen in the film mentioned that
there was also a print publication as well -
17:51 - 17:53and I have this, below Olga.
-
17:53 - 17:55I've just a copy of the book.
-
17:55 - 17:58It's a pretty hefty volume!
-
17:59 - 18:02- Should I pass it?
- Yeah, absolutely. -
18:02 - 18:07I will say it is a tremendous value
to have these sources translated. -
18:07 - 18:10Certainly, for teaching,
these are documents -
18:10 - 18:14that otherwise have not
at all been available. -
18:15 - 18:17Certainly in this way.
-
18:18 - 18:22So this is the digital side,
that's the print version. -
18:24 - 18:27This is probably the most important
-
18:29 - 18:33part of the webpage,
which is to say it's the search engine. -
18:33 - 18:39I'll show you our cataloging system,
our protocols, -
18:39 - 18:43so you can see how we're trying
to identify -
18:45 - 18:50keywords artists so that our documents
will appear in these searches. -
18:50 - 18:55But the archive is searchable
by artist name, by language -
18:55 - 18:56by date, by country.
-
18:57 - 19:00With all of these different filters.
-
19:00 - 19:04Just as a kind of example
-
19:04 - 19:08I have pulled this document
-
19:09 - 19:12it's one by the Argentine artist
Leon Ferrari, -
19:13 - 19:16just to show you
what it actually looks like -
19:17 - 19:20with the cataloging
and information at the top -
19:22 - 19:25and a synopsis and also an annotation.
-
19:26 - 19:29If you click over on the very top
right-hand corner -
19:29 - 19:34you can also have this information
in Spanish, so it is a bilingual webpage. -
19:35 - 19:39If you were to click
on underneath this small image -
19:39 - 19:40of the document full text
-
19:41 - 19:44this is what one of the document,
that appears for you. -
19:45 - 19:47Again, this is just as an example.
-
19:47 - 19:52And it comes up as a PDF
with the ICAA cover sheet. -
19:52 - 19:57And then you do get within the document,
the image itself. -
19:57 - 20:00Which is, for graduate students,
for scholars, -
20:00 - 20:06actually a huge asset to this site.
-
20:10 - 20:13Mari Carmen referred to,
in the film, -
20:13 - 20:16the editorial framework of the archive
-
20:16 - 20:21and to these different categories.
-
20:23 - 20:26I think it's worth noting
that researchers haven't been -
20:26 - 20:31necessarily asked to go and draw up
all sorts of documents. -
20:31 - 20:37And in fact, we've been tasked
to look more deliberately -
20:37 - 20:40for documents that fall
within these categories. -
20:41 - 20:43Certainly, these are
quite broad categories -
20:44 - 20:49but there is certainly a curatorial
or curative aspect to the archive. -
20:49 - 20:51Olga, did you want to speak
to some of these-- -
20:51 - 20:56Yes, these are some of the categories
that will form in the publication -
20:56 - 20:58so these are, as Abbie said, pretty broad.
-
20:59 - 21:01They include, if you take them
one by one -
21:01 - 21:04they include all the possibilities
within Latin American art -
21:04 - 21:06but they're not limited to this.
-
21:06 - 21:10In fact, researchers are asked
to suggest new ones -
21:10 - 21:13depending on the cases,
depending on the collections -
21:13 - 21:15that we are looking at.
-
21:15 - 21:17For example, the collection
that we're looking at -
21:17 - 21:20here in Washington DC,
the Jose Gomez Sicre -
21:20 - 21:22and the Organization of American States
-
21:22 - 21:24that falls very much
into existing categories -
21:24 - 21:25Latin American and Latino.
-
21:26 - 21:29He was an art critic
that was based here in Washington DC. -
21:31 - 21:35He joined the Pan American Union
in 1946 -
21:35 - 21:37and retired in 1991.
-
21:37 - 21:40So he had a very long career
of promoting young talent -
21:40 - 21:41from Latin America
-
21:41 - 21:43and introducing them
-
21:43 - 21:46as part of the mission of
the Pan American Union until 1948 -
21:46 - 21:49and then from 1948 on,
the Organization of American States. -
21:49 - 21:55So, in his role, he's falling into this
looking at the hemisphere -
21:56 - 21:58from the location of the US.
-
21:58 - 22:00Looking down at Latin America.
-
22:00 - 22:04But as he travels back and forth,
he is taking his knowledge. -
22:04 - 22:09He's going to Argentina,
going to the [inaudible] Gallery -
22:10 - 22:13collecting information,
presenting the artists here in Washington -
22:13 - 22:19then going to São Paolo Biennial
exchanging information. -
22:19 - 22:23So he's creating all this network
that goes -
22:23 - 22:26into these different categories
of what is Latin American and Latino. -
22:26 - 22:30In the first volume that is circulating,
the concluding remarks -
22:30 - 22:33about this idea
of Latin American and Latino -
22:33 - 22:35is that these are constructions.
-
22:35 - 22:36They do not exist.
-
22:36 - 22:40But they're very much constructions
to put together groups. -
22:40 - 22:42Very heterogeneous groups.
-
22:42 - 22:44So, we think this project,
this category, -
22:44 - 22:47the documents are challenging
those assumptions. -
22:48 - 22:50In the National Imaginaries/
Cosmopolitan Identities -
22:50 - 22:51that's the second volume
-
22:51 - 22:54that is looking very much at the idea
of the global and the local. -
22:55 - 22:57Cosmopolitanism versus nationalism.
-
22:57 - 23:02The organization, the construction
of the modern nation states -
23:02 - 23:06and how the artists are addressing
this building of the nations. -
23:06 - 23:10Are they assuming a very nationalist tone?
Or do they want to be international? -
23:10 - 23:12It's that national/international binary.
-
23:12 - 23:15Recycling and hydrating the arts
of Latino America -
23:15 - 23:20that is something that relates
to the US Latino populations. -
23:23 - 23:28Appropriating icons
and appropriating histories -
23:28 - 23:32and recreating histories and myths
such as the mythical land of Aslam. -
23:32 - 23:35And making it part of that nationalism.
-
23:35 - 23:38And others that follow along those lines
-
23:38 - 23:41in terms of pop art, as well,
in Argentina. -
23:41 - 23:45In issues of race, class and gender,
that's very much what is happening -
23:45 - 23:46in the different countries.
-
23:46 - 23:48One of the big issues here
that looks at -
23:48 - 23:53is the presence of Afro-Latin American,
the Caribbean -
23:53 - 23:55not only Caribbean, but other countries
that do not fall -
23:55 - 23:57within that Caribbean basin.
-
23:57 - 23:59Art activism and social change.
-
24:00 - 24:04And that goes a little bit
with this idea of... -
24:06 - 24:08graphic arts.
-
24:08 - 24:12This idea of graphic arts
as a more popular medium -
24:12 - 24:14to pass on messages about art
-
24:15 - 24:17or using art to convey messages.
-
24:18 - 24:20Then super-realism, magic realism
and the fantastic. -
24:20 - 24:23That is a category that would look
as an example -
24:23 - 24:27the role of Roberto Matta, Wilfredo Lam
-
24:27 - 24:30and the relationship that they had
with Breton. -
24:30 - 24:34Or Breton in Mexico with Frida Kahlo
or the others, and creating -
24:34 - 24:37and putting together
the first realist exhibitions -
24:37 - 24:39in Mexico in 1939 -1940.
-
24:39 - 24:44New world, American constructive utopias,
that's really Abbie's alley -
24:44 - 24:48but it looks at those developments
that Mari Carmen mentions -
24:48 - 24:52about the Argentinian Madi group, 1940s,
-
24:52 - 24:58really foretelling developments
that happened in the 1960s in the US. -
24:58 - 25:01The breaking of the frame,
art experimentation with colors, -
25:01 - 25:06sculptures, all these things
that were being explored -
25:06 - 25:10not only by Argentinian artists
but by Brazilian as well, and others. -
25:10 - 25:11And Venezuelans.
-
25:11 - 25:14Abstracts and figuratives
in the Cold War period. -
25:14 - 25:18This is where Gomez Sicre wanted
to collect the collections -
25:18 - 25:20that we're looking at in Washington.
-
25:20 - 25:22Really most of the documents
fall into this. -
25:22 - 25:23He was...
-
25:25 - 25:29really the point for him
became the Cuban Revolution -
25:30 - 25:34he had promoted a lot of figuration
during the 1950s. -
25:35 - 25:38Beginning in 1960,
you start seeing the promotion -
25:38 - 25:41of more abstraction in the artists
-
25:41 - 25:44even to the point that he,
for example, -
25:44 - 25:47taking the case of Ecuador,
you have Guayasamin -
25:47 - 25:49as one of the key artists.
-
25:49 - 25:52To the point that he presented
an exhibition of Guayasamin in the 1950s -
25:52 - 25:57and then 1960s is a different generation,
totally obliterating -
25:57 - 26:01the contribution of Guayasamin
in this debate -
26:01 - 26:04and this documentation that he provides.
-
26:04 - 26:06But then again the graphic artists,
-
26:06 - 26:09this idea of art activism
and social change -
26:09 - 26:11in a way they interrelate.
-
26:11 - 26:15Then we have the exile displacement
diaspora that has to be very much -
26:15 - 26:20with artists from Latin American countries
coming to the US, moving to Europe. -
26:21 - 26:26As part of self-exile
or forced exile displacement -
26:26 - 26:28and the diaspora, the construction,
the migration to the US. -
26:29 - 26:34These new diasporic communities
that start growing -
26:34 - 26:36from the 1970s, 1960s on.
-
26:37 - 26:42Conceptualism, the reference
to Oiticica and others. -
26:43 - 26:45Mass-media and technology in art
-
26:45 - 26:47what is happening,
especially with the groups in Argentina -
26:47 - 26:51in late 1960s and early 1970s.
-
26:52 - 26:56That idea of using computers,
-
26:56 - 26:59using certain formats
could be regenerated. -
27:00 - 27:05Very basic early 1970s technology
and traveling these exhibitions -
27:05 - 27:08and putting a collective
of world artists together. -
27:08 - 27:11Globalization and its Latin American
discontents. -
27:11 - 27:13This really looks at
more recent developments -
27:13 - 27:17in terms of the infrastructure
of the art field. -
27:17 - 27:21In terms of the new fairs,
the new biennials. -
27:21 - 27:24The circulation of global artists.
-
27:24 - 27:29So, those are really very few examples
of what we could encounter -
27:29 - 27:30in these different categories.
-
27:30 - 27:35But they're broad in their description
and they try to follow -
27:35 - 27:40more a model of identity,
very fluid, very organic coming in, out -
27:40 - 27:45and in the document series,
they sometimes do not fit -
27:45 - 27:47neatly into one category.
-
27:47 - 27:53So they fit into several ones
and it's a way to present -
27:53 - 27:57a more wider perspective
of the movement of art -
27:57 - 27:59in Latin America.
-
28:01 - 28:04The diversity of these topics
really speaks to the point -
28:04 - 28:08that Mari Carmen made in the film
about moving the idea -
28:08 - 28:12of Latin American art
away from its stereotyped identity -
28:12 - 28:15is just being about art activism
and social change -
28:15 - 28:20or as being so closely connected
to Diego Rivero, Frida Kahlo. -
28:20 - 28:23Though certainly major figures
within this history -
28:23 - 28:25but certainly they weren't the only actors
-
28:25 - 28:28in the Americas across the 20th century.
-
28:28 - 28:30And the idea
-
28:30 - 28:32coming out of Houston,
I think expressed -
28:32 - 28:34by all of these different teams
has been -
28:34 - 28:38to allow a more expansive idea of what
-
28:38 - 28:42American or Latin American, or Latino art
-
28:42 - 28:47might actually have to offer, and to say.
-
28:50 - 28:55There are four pages of the cataloging
entry forms -
28:55 - 28:59and I just thought I would show them here
to you just to give you a sense -
28:59 - 29:03of what the actual work is
to get a document if we find -
29:03 - 29:09for instance, an exhibition catalog
that is only five sentences of text, -
29:09 - 29:14how that actually becomes part
of the documenting process. -
29:15 - 29:19These are the empty documents
that we're giving to our students here -
29:19 - 29:23at Maryland and elsewhere
and asking them -
29:23 - 29:27to categorize
within this editorial framework -
29:27 - 29:32but also to do some of this other
data analysis -
29:33 - 29:38as it were, to think of these documents
and to catalog them. -
29:38 - 29:44And to do this work
as well as the interpretive analysis. -
29:45 - 29:49This is the second pages,
-
29:49 - 29:54the third and fourth page
of our entry form. -
29:57 - 30:00This is shifting over to our...
-
30:00 - 30:05with our Washington team
and our working group here. -
30:07 - 30:12I suppose if there are any questions
about the larger project in Houston -
30:12 - 30:15this might be a good time
to answer-- -
30:15 - 30:16Yes?
-
30:16 - 30:19(audience member 1) So I saw
on the main webpage -
30:19 - 30:22it said something sorta, I think "my",
it said something "my"... -
30:22 - 30:24- my argu--
- (Abbie) Oh, my documents -
30:24 - 30:26- (audience member 1) My documents?
- (Abbie) Yes. -
30:26 - 30:29(audience member 1) And looking
at the categories, -
30:29 - 30:31I wonder, is it possible to resort,
-
30:31 - 30:35can a user coming there,
can they effectively... -
30:35 - 30:37as carefully as you've worked out
these categories -
30:37 - 30:41can they start to play with,
and stretch, and re-stretch the categories -
30:41 - 30:44and make things fit into different--
-
30:44 - 30:47because I see the "my documents" and...
-
30:47 - 30:49And sort of a related question was,
-
30:49 - 30:51you're going through
the different collections, -
30:51 - 30:53and I'm wondering if there are some things
-
30:53 - 30:55that just fit no categories,
-
30:55 - 30:58and so they don't end up in this,
even though they're part of... -
30:59 - 31:03identified, and part of
a rich collection, -
31:03 - 31:09but there may be some things
that are just so much ephemera? -
31:09 - 31:13So, those are two kind of questions.
-
31:13 - 31:16(Abbie) I can try
to answer them, I suppose. -
31:16 - 31:19My documents, we can play with that
a little bit on the webpage. -
31:20 - 31:23If you create a user account
and it's absolutely free to do this, -
31:24 - 31:28then you can tab the documents
and sort them into... -
31:29 - 31:32different larger folders,
as it were, -
31:32 - 31:33and we give them a heading.
-
31:33 - 31:36So, if you wanted to look at
just Mexican muralism -
31:36 - 31:39or Cuban abstraction
you could create a folder -
31:39 - 31:41and then insert these documents there.
-
31:41 - 31:44And you have the option of making
these folders public -
31:44 - 31:45and sharing them.
-
31:45 - 31:47So, if you wanted to say,
"Well these are all documents -
31:47 - 31:50pertaining to muralism in the 1930s",
-
31:51 - 31:54I've gone in and found them
and I'm going to make them available -
31:54 - 31:57to you, just as a collegial thing
to do, that's one option. -
31:58 - 32:01I've done this on a small scale
for my teaching. -
32:01 - 32:04If I've wanted to go in
and ask students to work -
32:04 - 32:07on this question of Latino
versus Latin American identity -
32:07 - 32:09and say, "Well, these are a few documents,
-
32:10 - 32:14perhaps select two out of these
and construct an argument. -
32:14 - 32:16What are these different authors saying?"
-
32:16 - 32:18There's that possibility.
-
32:18 - 32:22I don't know that users can change
categorizations -
32:22 - 32:25although that might be
an interesting feature. -
32:25 - 32:30But that's the "my documents"
is only a personal site -
32:30 - 32:33within the larger project.
-
32:33 - 32:37This other question about ephemeral
or one-off documents -
32:37 - 32:42is one that I also have thought about.
-
32:42 - 32:45I think that the answer
that Maria Gaztambide, -
32:45 - 32:48she's the head of the ICAA at Houston,
-
32:48 - 32:51she gave to us last summer
when she oriented me in the project, -
32:51 - 32:54all that has been oriented
probably many times -
32:54 - 32:55she's a real veteran.
-
32:57 - 33:01Was if there does seem to be a document
that doesn't have an obvious artist -
33:01 - 33:06who is maybe kind of to the side
of one category or the other, -
33:06 - 33:08perhaps the strategy
might be to collect -
33:08 - 33:11a small set of documents,
four or five, -
33:11 - 33:15that would allow this artist
or this topic to be -
33:15 - 33:18in a way, more fully-explained
that one document in itself -
33:18 - 33:20might be able to do
-
33:20 - 33:23and then to add those documents
together. -
33:23 - 33:28I don't know if this has happened,
but Maria says it's on the way -
33:28 - 33:30is for documents to link to each other.
-
33:30 - 33:34And so if you pull up a document
on Frida Kahlo -
33:34 - 33:38there might be a way to bracket off
another document. -
33:38 - 33:42And so for artists, especially artists
who are lesser-known than Kahlo -
33:42 - 33:46to be able then to link an artist
who's an awkward fit, perhaps, -
33:46 - 33:49to something that is more major
or even to other documents -
33:49 - 33:53that explain this moment,
or this history -
33:53 - 33:58it's a way of including
sideways, as it were, -
33:58 - 34:03these even more marginal figures
within the larger narrative. -
34:03 - 34:05Does that sound about right?
-
34:06 - 34:09You know your question is very important
because these categories -
34:09 - 34:12that were decided in 2004,
so it's nine years ago. -
34:12 - 34:14The field is changing and definitely,
-
34:14 - 34:17but they are very open, that is something
that of my understanding -
34:17 - 34:21there is a way to communicate with them
to suggest new categories. -
34:21 - 34:25And I think this is going to generate
new categories by itself. -
34:25 - 34:26The availability of the documents,
-
34:26 - 34:29the new reassessments
of the collections of artists -
34:29 - 34:31will generate newer themes.
-
34:31 - 34:34For example, one of the last categories
-
34:34 - 34:37that we had was the globalization
and its discontents -
34:37 - 34:39but you don't hear so much
about globalization -
34:40 - 34:43at the end of neoliberalism.
-
34:43 - 34:48Now it's the idea of the backwards
globalization, no longer there -
34:48 - 34:51so it's just where is globalization
right now, and that's one of the points, -
34:51 - 34:56because that's one of my fields
of research, globalization. -
34:56 - 34:58So, right now it's very difficult.
-
34:58 - 35:03So, is that the valid field right now?
Maybe it isn't. -
35:03 - 35:07So that's something that I think
it is set up to be more fluid, -
35:07 - 35:11and absolutely, they would consider
new fields -
35:11 - 35:13something else for
the researchers to suggest. -
35:13 - 35:16In terms of the documents,
that's something that we usually -
35:16 - 35:18if there's no--
-
35:19 - 35:22if they don't fit neatly
within these categories -
35:22 - 35:27we write a note to the project
and then they reassess -
35:27 - 35:29and figure out where to put it.
-
35:29 - 35:31For example, in the publication,
the book, -
35:32 - 35:36there are some documents
that are not really art-related, -
35:36 - 35:39but they're more into the concept
of what Latin America was. -
35:39 - 35:46For example, they have the original
poems from 1856 -
35:46 - 35:50of Caicedo, Jose Maria Caicedo,
when he refers for the first time -
35:51 - 35:53to the continent as Latin America.
-
35:53 - 35:55It's very much, it comes from--
-
35:55 - 35:58It's a French construction
rather than an American, -
35:58 - 36:01The American usage of the Americas
-
36:01 - 36:05was the older American republics
up until 1945. -
36:05 - 36:10And that's what you see in the official
documents from the national archives -
36:10 - 36:13related to art exchanges
with Latin America. -
36:13 - 36:16It's very much
the older American republics. -
36:17 - 36:22So it is definitely changing,
but that's something very interesting. -
36:22 - 36:25So if you are using it in the future
and see something that you want -
36:25 - 36:29to suggest, by all means,
that would be very welcome! -
36:33 - 36:35If there are no more questions
about the Washington part of it. -
36:35 - 36:37We can certainly
cycle back. -
36:38 - 36:42This is just a brief overview
of the Washington team. -
36:43 - 36:48I guess it's an introduction
of the different partner institutions -
36:48 - 36:52of their research team and then
an incomplete list of students. -
36:52 - 36:58We have still to add the six students
in my graduate seminar this term. -
37:01 - 37:05The idea of bringing the Documents Project
to Washington was really Olga's. -
37:07 - 37:12And perhaps you would want to speak
to your idea of bringing it here? -
37:12 - 37:15Well, yes, this is something
very interesting -
37:15 - 37:18and it's a conversation that has been
going on since about 2006. -
37:18 - 37:23When the current director of
the Documents Project, Maria Gaztambide -
37:23 - 37:27worked for the Archives of American Art
in the late 1990s, -
37:27 - 37:31she completed surveys
of Latin American, Latino artists -
37:31 - 37:32in New York and Puerto Rico,
-
37:32 - 37:34and someone else did it for Florida.
-
37:34 - 37:38So there was that foundation,
previous year of work -
37:39 - 37:44Previous years always come together,
so Maria was very much aware -
37:44 - 37:46of what was at the Archives
of American Art -
37:46 - 37:50in terms of this Mari Carmen
was very knowledgeable -
37:50 - 37:54about the work of Jose Gomez Sicre
and the lack of documents -
37:54 - 37:55about his criticism.
-
37:55 - 38:00There were some articles in newspapers
as well as some of the essays -
38:00 - 38:04that he would write for the bulletin,
the Artes Visuales -
38:04 - 38:06of the Pan American union
of the OAS. -
38:06 - 38:08But other than that
there was not much -
38:08 - 38:12and when he passed away in 1991,
-
38:13 - 38:17he retired from the Museum
of the Art of the Americas in 1981 -
38:18 - 38:21and fortunately, and this is the issue
with archives -
38:21 - 38:24and with the technology
that really is amazing -
38:24 - 38:27there's usually one person
that really values -
38:27 - 38:29these collections of papers
at the same time. -
38:29 - 38:32So, in this case, they were put
in bankers' boxes, -
38:32 - 38:3513 of them, and we, for this project,
-
38:35 - 38:39the idea was to go over these 13 boxes,
-
38:39 - 38:43catalog them, put them in archival boxes,
-
38:43 - 38:46create the finding aids, and then
scan them and digitize them. -
38:46 - 38:50So, that's been the work that we've been
doing since July. -
38:50 - 38:55So, the knowledge of these collections
at the Archives of American Art was there, -
38:55 - 38:58Washington was an important point
for the introduction -
38:58 - 39:00of Latin American artists.
-
39:00 - 39:03Of course, we have that connections
from Mexico to New York, -
39:03 - 39:07the galleries, the development
of the 1920s -
39:07 - 39:11the interest in the mural movement
and priority at the World Fairs. -
39:11 - 39:16Those were really huge windows
into showing Latin American culture -
39:16 - 39:19from different countries
to the world. -
39:19 - 39:22But Washington was that special place
-
39:22 - 39:26and the idea, the conversation
really started in 2006. -
39:26 - 39:30They tried to engage
the Smithsonian Institution, -
39:30 - 39:32were not very successful,
and at that time, -
39:32 - 39:33at the University of Notre Dame,
-
39:33 - 39:36we were doing the Midwest project,
and recording -
39:36 - 39:40which was really going house-to-house,
visiting artist-to-artist, -
39:40 - 39:44organizations, and going to the basements,
pulling the archival collections, -
39:44 - 39:46digitizing them.
-
39:46 - 39:49So, we had that experience
and this was a conversation -
39:49 - 39:50that continued after that.
-
39:50 - 39:52Why don't we do Washington DC?
-
39:53 - 39:56So, the opportunity really arose
last year, -
39:56 - 39:59and we said "if we don't do it this year,
it's not going to get done." -
39:59 - 40:03And this, the DC Project,
-
40:03 - 40:07along with the Uruguay Project
are the last ones. -
40:07 - 40:11They were planning to do one in New York,
but it hasn't been solidified -
40:12 - 40:15in looking at the different
Latin American organizations -
40:15 - 40:17that existed, and galleries.
-
40:17 - 40:21Some papers strong, very fragile galleries,
-
40:21 - 40:26very small control centers
that are always at risk of disappearing. -
40:27 - 40:30So, this is one of the freelance projects
that we're doing. -
40:31 - 40:35And with this, the idea
for the consortium was Maria's -
40:36 - 40:41based on the success
of the Colombian team project -
40:41 - 40:44that engaged students from
Universidad de los Andes, -
40:44 - 40:47from Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano,
-
40:47 - 40:51they were very involved, and that was part
of the goal of the project itself, -
40:51 - 40:54to try to bring new scholars,
to try to engage students -
40:54 - 40:56into the project.
-
40:56 - 41:00So, this has been the idea
to include the universities. -
41:00 - 41:04Michelle Greet is
at George Mason University. -
41:04 - 41:09She was out... she has had...
-
41:10 - 41:12she is working on a project,
so she had one year off. -
41:12 - 41:15So, I taught a class
at George Mason University -
41:15 - 41:19on 20th century Latin American art
last semester -
41:19 - 41:21and engaged the students
from George Mason. -
41:21 - 41:24We still have one working with us
this semester -
41:24 - 41:26so that has been the participation
with George Mason. -
41:26 - 41:28With the University of Maryland,
we're very thankful -
41:28 - 41:32to Abbie and to the department
because we have wonderful our students -
41:32 - 41:36working along, and one of them is Eloy,
-
41:36 - 41:40who is working with the collections
of the Archives of American Art. -
41:40 - 41:42And basically we're engaging
Alejandro Anreus -
41:42 - 41:45who's the chair of the art department
at William Paterson. -
41:45 - 41:48He worked at the Organization
of American States -
41:48 - 41:54he did conduct some long interviews
with Gomez Sicre -
41:54 - 42:00so he has followed that idea
of publicizing what his curatorial vision was. -
42:00 - 42:03Michelle Greet, as I mentioned,
George Mason University, -
42:03 - 42:07Liza Kirwin, who is the acting director
of the Archives of American Art, -
42:08 - 42:12Adriana Ospina, who is the registrar
at the Art Museum of the Americas -
42:12 - 42:17I've been working with her
in terms of cataloging the archives. -
42:18 - 42:23We have a list of some of the consortium
of graduate students as students, -
42:23 - 42:27we had Rebecca Cosgrove
from Maryland as well, last semester. -
42:27 - 42:32And we have this semester, Eloy,
and a longer list that Abbie has -
42:32 - 42:35of the names of the students
from Maryland. -
42:37 - 42:39(Abbie) These are just, again,
some screenshots -
42:39 - 42:42of the Archives of American Art
-
42:42 - 42:47where Eloy is working
on the Giulio Blanc papers. -
42:47 - 42:52Blanc was a major curator and writer
of Cuban, Cuban-American art. -
42:52 - 42:55Unfortunately passed away very young,
but his archive -
42:55 - 42:58is actually quite a tremendous asset.
-
42:58 - 43:01And this is just the webpage,
-
43:01 - 43:04as it looks at
the Art Museum of the Americas, -
43:05 - 43:08just off the National Mall
in Washington. -
43:08 - 43:10In addition to the Gomez Sicre archives,
-
43:10 - 43:15they do actually have incredible
country files, artist files. -
43:16 - 43:19Unfortunately, not cataloged
and not very well organized, -
43:19 - 43:26but as a resource for Latin American art
the actual documents, -
43:26 - 43:32newspaper clippings, from all of the OAS
offices across these cities, -
43:32 - 43:36across the Americas,
are actually incredibly valuable. -
43:36 - 43:39But this is just if you were to go
to these sites, you could click through -
43:39 - 43:42and see the different papers and records
-
43:42 - 43:43and archives and so on.
-
43:44 - 43:47This is just an example of one document
that one of our graduate students, -
43:47 - 43:51Caroline Shields, is actually working on.
-
43:51 - 43:54The documents are often quite short.
-
43:54 - 43:57There isn't always a lot of text.
-
43:57 - 44:01But in a way, in targeting Gomez Sicre,
in making him the big focus -
44:01 - 44:04of the project in Washington,
-
44:04 - 44:07even what seemed to be
almost a minor document -
44:07 - 44:09with very little analysis
-
44:11 - 44:16seen in numbers of 20 or 50,
they begin to articulate -
44:16 - 44:21a curatorial vision,
or even an agenda. -
44:21 - 44:26Gomez Sicre is often criticized as being
a Cold Warrior, as it were. -
44:26 - 44:31But we can see that shifts
in his own ideas -
44:31 - 44:35in his own philosophy
about abstraction and figuration -
44:35 - 44:39through the changing in the tone
of some of these texts. -
44:39 - 44:44And so, to have them not just
as a one-off, but as 20, as 50, -
44:44 - 44:48you begin to get a bigger picture
of him as a writer. -
44:48 - 44:50But this is just one example.
-
44:50 - 44:54This is another example,
this is one that I'll be writing up. -
44:54 - 45:00I'll say that,
particularly I'm very excited -
45:00 - 45:02to be part of the Documents Project.
-
45:02 - 45:05For me, it's been a bit
of a reacquaintance -
45:05 - 45:07with actually some of these documents
-
45:07 - 45:10because I've already
gone through the archives -
45:10 - 45:14or have seen these documents
in the course of my own research -
45:14 - 45:17and, certainly the idea
of the Documents Project -
45:17 - 45:21isn't just to kind of
assemble the documents -
45:21 - 45:27but also to see them as a catalyst
for research, scholarship and publication. -
45:27 - 45:29to get the document, and a way,
to put the documents -
45:29 - 45:32into art historical use.
-
45:33 - 45:36Albizu was a Puerto Rican artist
who Gomez Sicre -
45:36 - 45:41was really the first to introduce
to the United States-based audience. -
45:42 - 45:46She fell, almost immediately,
into a kind of obscurity. -
45:46 - 45:49This is a very early exhibition.
-
45:51 - 45:56Albizu, I think is about to have
a bit of a resurgence. -
45:56 - 46:00This is a work of art,
a fantastic painting -
46:00 - 46:04that JP Morgan has just donated
to the Smithsonian, -
46:04 - 46:06I think just earlier this year.
-
46:06 - 46:10It will be a real highlight
of the exhibition of Our America -
46:10 - 46:14that Carmen Ramos is preparing
right now, as we speak, -
46:14 - 46:20scheduled to open in October
of this year at the Smithsonian. -
46:21 - 46:23It's significant, in part, because Albizu
-
46:23 - 46:26has not always been considered
an American artist -
46:27 - 46:29even though Puerto Rico
is certainly a commonwealth. -
46:29 - 46:33She's an artist who spent her career
in New York. -
46:33 - 46:39But to see her becoming recognized
through acquisition -
46:39 - 46:42but also through,
and at the documentary level, -
46:42 - 46:46have seen the history of Albizu
in Washington or New York. -
46:46 - 46:48It's a way of rounding out
a former picture of this artist -
46:48 - 46:50and who she was.
-
46:51 - 46:53This is another example, again,
of a document -
46:53 - 46:58that I'll be writing up,
of again, for me, a Cuban artist, -
46:58 - 47:02Agustin Fernandez, who also had
one of his very early -
47:02 - 47:08and important exhibitions
at the Pan-American Union, -
47:08 - 47:10as it was.
-
47:10 - 47:14Then I've featured Fernandez, in part,
-
47:14 - 47:17to also mention
the Agustin Fernandez Foundation. -
47:18 - 47:24One of the great opportunities
that the Documents Project has afforded -
47:24 - 47:29is for otherwise obscure,
and very little known artist foundations -
47:29 - 47:32and estates, to have a bit
of extra publicity. -
47:33 - 47:35It's possible,
and certainly this will be the case -
47:35 - 47:41where Fernandez, for the document entries
to make reference to the estate -
47:41 - 47:46to a foundation, for them to be listed
as also a collaborator. -
47:46 - 47:50And for so many of these artists'
families, the artists themselves -
47:50 - 47:55the foundations, it's a real boost
to have this kind of recognition -
47:55 - 48:00and attention, which can otherwise
be very difficult, unfortunately, -
48:00 - 48:01to come by.
-
48:03 - 48:08These are two documents that Eloy
has actually identified -
48:08 - 48:10from the Archives of American Art.
-
48:10 - 48:14Both on a Cuban artist, again,
Amelia Pelaez. -
48:17 - 48:18(Eloy) Yeah,
I was going to say. -
48:18 - 48:20Basically there was a lot
of information there, -
48:20 - 48:24so I really had to narrow it down
to something that is doable. -
48:25 - 48:28And I narrowed it down to the
Julio Blanc papers. -
48:28 - 48:33Which has a lot of information
about different Latin American artists. -
48:34 - 48:36And further, there, I had to
narrow it down -
48:36 - 48:39to one particular artist.
-
48:39 - 48:41I actually looked at Wilfredo Lam
-
48:41 - 48:43and there's some interesting
material there for him. -
48:43 - 48:47And there was actually some audio
material that I listened to -
48:47 - 48:51that was by Lydia Cabrera,
who is actually a sociologist -
48:52 - 48:56in Afro-Cuban culture,
-
48:57 - 48:59and collaborated very much
with Wilfredo Lam, -
48:59 - 49:01and has some of his works.
-
49:01 - 49:03And that was actually interesting,
listening to her. -
49:03 - 49:06Of course, at the time
when the interview was made -
49:06 - 49:08she was probably in her eighties
at the time. -
49:09 - 49:12But then I began to concentrate
on Amelia Pelaez -
49:12 - 49:14mainly because I wasn't sure
-
49:14 - 49:17how much material
there was out there. -
49:18 - 49:22And the collection has
-
49:22 - 49:27a series of things from catalogs,
exhibition catalogs -
49:27 - 49:30including her first exhibition in Paris
back in 1933. -
49:31 - 49:34And it goes on
through different exhibitions -
49:34 - 49:38including some posthumous exhibitions
here in the United States. -
49:38 - 49:42as well as one in Cuba,
starting in the late 60s, -
49:42 - 49:44'68, after she died.
-
49:44 - 49:47Newspaper clippings, articles.
-
49:47 - 49:51So what you see here is,
believe this first one is... -
49:52 - 49:56is actually by Giulio Blanc,
a paper that Giulio Blanc started writing. -
49:56 - 50:00And this is his draft, obviously,
and that's recorded there. -
50:01 - 50:05The next one that you see was one that was
actually written by Jose Gomez Sicre, -
50:05 - 50:07in a...
-
50:08 - 50:12I guess it was a journal
called The Metropolitan -
50:13 - 50:14which is actually associated with the--
-
50:15 - 50:18it was actually not in New York,
that's one of the things I found out, -
50:18 - 50:20because it involves a lot of research
-
50:20 - 50:23when you start writing
the annotations later. -
50:23 - 50:28But it's in Miami,
it started actually in Coral Gables -
50:28 - 50:29and then later became part of
-
50:29 - 50:32the Museum of Modern Art in Miami.
-
50:32 - 50:35And then that section got closed
and that was part of the... -
50:39 - 50:41FIU in Miami.
-
50:42 - 50:45So, what I do is I go through these
-
50:45 - 50:48and I basically end up
filling out the forms -
50:48 - 50:51that were shown earlier.
-
50:51 - 50:55And what really takes a lot of the work
aside from just the description -
50:55 - 51:00is the actual looking at the annotations
and doing the research, and trying to-- -
51:00 - 51:01But it's very interesting.
-
51:02 - 51:07in some of them I was telling Olga earlier,
that I saw one of the catalogs -
51:07 - 51:11that was actually done in Cuba
in November of 1968, -
51:13 - 51:15shortly after she died.
-
51:15 - 51:16It was very comprehensive.
-
51:16 - 51:20And it actually has pictures
that go back to her time in Paris -
51:21 - 51:27along with other Cuban artists
there that were co-students -
51:27 - 51:29with her in Paris.
-
51:29 - 51:34It also shows her, aside from a lot
of the paintings that she has done -
51:34 - 51:38she also did ceramics
and she had a workshop in Havana -
51:38 - 51:40so it shows a lot of her ceramics.
-
51:40 - 51:42That's something that a lot of times
you don't get to see. -
51:43 - 51:45So, it's been very interesting.
-
51:45 - 51:48I, myself, come--I'm a neophyte,
really, to this, to the art history. -
51:48 - 51:51I come more from
the practicing artist end -
51:51 - 51:54and so it's very interesting
to see all of these works -
51:54 - 51:58which actually end up
influencing you as an artist, as well. -
52:00 - 52:02- Yes?
- (audience member 2) Can I jump in? -
52:02 - 52:04So, I was fascinated listening to how
-
52:04 - 52:07you narrowed down
to this particular artist -
52:07 - 52:11and it sounds like you are swimming
in a sea of documents -
52:11 - 52:15and trying to bite off
and masticate that one portion. -
52:16 - 52:18Are you making notes
about all the other things -
52:18 - 52:20that you don't end up focusing on?
-
52:20 - 52:23So that others can narrow their searches?
-
52:23 - 52:26(Eloy) That's a good question,
it's a very difficult one to answer -
52:26 - 52:29because there is so much material in there
as you go through it. -
52:29 - 52:32And some of it is a little bit
clearer to see -
52:32 - 52:35than others, just because of the quality
of the microfilm -
52:35 - 52:38but I'm basically using
my own judgment in there -
52:40 - 52:42And I talk with Olga sometimes
and there are some things that-- -
52:42 - 52:47I make a list of different things
and then she can call it further, -
52:47 - 52:51and say "This, I think it's good
to concentrate on." -
52:51 - 52:56But it's very easy to spend
tons of time on that -
52:56 - 52:57so at some point,
in order to actually be productive -
52:57 - 53:00and produce something
you have to use your own judgment. -
53:01 - 53:05I should tell you a little bit
why I chose-- -
53:05 - 53:07why I narrowed it down
to these two artists, -
53:07 - 53:09and especially to Amelia Pelaez.
-
53:09 - 53:13I'm originally from Cuba,
so I have some knowledge -
53:15 - 53:16about the culture.
-
53:16 - 53:20I grew up there and then came
to the United States in the 60s. -
53:21 - 53:25So, some of the things that I read
are a little bit easier -
53:25 - 53:28to associate with and to understand.
-
53:28 - 53:31A lot of the material
is actually in Spanish. -
53:31 - 53:32These two happen to be in English,
-
53:32 - 53:34but there's a lot of others
that are in Spanish. -
53:34 - 53:36Some of it is also in French.
-
53:37 - 53:40So, as I write about the documents
I also end up translating them. -
53:41 - 53:44But yeah, you're right,
it's a matter of choice -
53:44 - 53:47and judgment.
-
53:49 - 53:50I don't know if
I've answered your question. -
53:50 - 53:52(audience member 2) No, no,
that's perfectly fine. -
53:52 - 53:53That's what I figured
you were going to say! -
53:53 - 53:55I was just curious how the--
-
53:55 - 53:58You don't want those little,
that flotsam and jetsam -
53:58 - 54:01to be flotsam and jetsam,
to be lost forever-- -
54:01 - 54:05(Eloy) And some of it's a little bit...
of a reputation, for example, -
54:07 - 54:09I read something,
and then I read something later, -
54:09 - 54:12another newspaper article
and it repeats it. -
54:12 - 54:17For example, the case of Pelaez,
later in the 90s, I believe, -
54:17 - 54:20when they started doing some shows
in Miami -
54:20 - 54:23there was some antagonism
from a certain group -
54:23 - 54:26a more conservative group
of the Cuban community -
54:26 - 54:27that opposed that,
-
54:27 - 54:30because she was obviously from Cuba
and she died in Cuba. -
54:31 - 54:33And there were some
newspaper articles on that. -
54:33 - 54:37But then there was also movement
from within the Miami community -
54:37 - 54:40that said, "Hey, you know,
this is not fair, this is not right. -
54:40 - 54:41Let's...Let's...
-
54:43 - 54:46Let's pay homage to this woman."
-
54:46 - 54:49And I think one of the things that Olga
mentioned about Jose Gomez Sicre, -
54:49 - 54:52I think you implied that there was a--
-
54:52 - 54:54I think you used the term Cold Warrior...
-
54:55 - 54:58in there, and there was also
some articles about him. -
54:58 - 55:03For example, he actually was
very favorable towards Amelia Pelaez -
55:03 - 55:07because most of her art
is really non-political. -
55:07 - 55:10He was not as favorable,
I think in some cases -
55:10 - 55:13than was [Wilfredo Lam],
who tended to be more... -
55:15 - 55:17leaning socialist, and all that.
-
55:17 - 55:21So that's one of the things
that I do find in doing this research -
55:21 - 55:25is how the politics
begin to play in here. -
55:27 - 55:30(Mari Carmen) Yeah, and for
Gomez Sicre, the politics, -
55:30 - 55:32you have to take into consideration
-
55:32 - 55:35that he is of the Organization
of American States, -
55:36 - 55:38he is an employee,
-
55:38 - 55:42so he has to follow
this political position -
55:42 - 55:44within the organization itself,
-
55:44 - 55:48even though he worked from 1946 on,
but he's so many things. -
55:48 - 55:54He was part of, he saw McCarthyism,
then he saw the Cold War -
55:54 - 55:58the changes to the Alliance for Progress
in Latin America and those shifts. -
55:58 - 56:01So, he would see money coming in,
money taken out, -
56:01 - 56:02money coming in...
-
56:02 - 56:04The foundations themselves,
the Rockefeller Foundation -
56:04 - 56:07giving him money in the 1960s,
-
56:07 - 56:10and the Rockefeller Foundation
giving money in 1945, -
56:10 - 56:14prior to him joining
the Pan-American Union -
56:14 - 56:16to create the archive,
the actual archive -
56:16 - 56:19to what we see today
at the Art Museum of the Americas -
56:19 - 56:22that came as a grant
from the Rockefeller Foundation -
56:22 - 56:23during World War II.
-
56:23 - 56:28So, that is something that we,
in reading between the lines, -
56:28 - 56:31as Abbie said, these are very short
documents, -
56:31 - 56:32but when we put them together
as a group -
56:32 - 56:36we start seeing what was happening
in terms of his politics. -
56:36 - 56:40One of the surprises
in the archives for us -
56:40 - 56:43was finding newspapers from Cuba
-
56:43 - 56:47from between 1963 and 1964
which at the time -
56:47 - 56:52seems that he was being investigated
at the FBI, at the CIA. -
56:52 - 56:56But he had this relationship
with Alejandro Carpentier -
56:56 - 57:00that went all the way 20 years back
and he was the one -
57:00 - 57:04sending these newspapers
that were coming to his residence -
57:04 - 57:07and he would move
into the OAS for protection. -
57:07 - 57:10So, there's a little bit of that
Cold Warrior... -
57:10 - 57:14in the public imagination, but I think
this opened more lines of inquiry -
57:14 - 57:18to really looking at what is,
from the institutional point of view, -
57:18 - 57:21what is happening
and how he's choosing his politics. -
57:22 - 57:26Hard to understand certain curatorial
normals that he's following. -
57:26 - 57:28(Eloy) And there's that,
and there's other issues, -
57:28 - 57:31for example, one newspaper article,
I didn't actually document that, -
57:31 - 57:35but then I found it was from
Wilfred Lam's wife, -
57:36 - 57:40in which she basically said
that in Cuba, actually, -
57:41 - 57:45in a hotel, I think it was, it probably
used to be the Hotel Nacional, -
57:45 - 57:47and now it's called Habana Libre,
-
57:47 - 57:52in a store there they were selling
fakes of Wilfredo Lam. -
57:52 - 57:56And so that came to her attention
and she ended up writing a letter -
57:56 - 58:00that basically said unless it has a seal
that I have actually signed, -
58:03 - 58:09do not consider it to be
a genuine Wilfredo Lam. -
58:09 - 58:13So it's... I'm just kind of giving you
some of the things I find -
58:13 - 58:16that may not make it
into all of this information. -
58:16 - 58:18But it's just interesting to see
that it's going on, -
58:18 - 58:20that it's happening.
-
58:21 - 58:26I will say that this year-long project
has focused on the Gomez Sicre papers -
58:26 - 58:29and to a small degree, with [inaudible]
Eloy and the Giulio Blanc papers, -
58:29 - 58:32but at both the Archives of American Art
and certainly -
58:32 - 58:34at the Organization of American States,
-
58:34 - 58:37there are many other archives,
and for this project -
58:37 - 58:42to be funded for additional years,
there's actually an incredible amount of work -
58:42 - 58:45and documents to be recovered.
-
58:45 - 58:49But that's forecasting a bit ahead
to the future. -
58:49 - 58:52But certainly, even in a year,
-
58:52 - 58:57we hope to have contributed
almost 400 documents -
58:57 - 59:00but there are three and four times
that many, potentially, -
59:00 - 59:03that could fall into this project.
-
59:03 - 59:06And just to kind of go on
with teaching a little bit. -
59:06 - 59:10These are the six students
who are in my graduate seminar -
59:10 - 59:12this spring,
and these are their assignments. -
59:12 - 59:17And they each have, I guess,
between four and five documents -
59:18 - 59:20I know Lindsey Muniak,
she's an undergraduate student -
59:20 - 59:23in the department, who's hoping
to actually take on a bit more -
59:23 - 59:27after her honors paper is concluded,
and perhaps to write a bit -
59:27 - 59:30over the summer as well.
-
59:30 - 59:35And their topics range
from someone like Torres Garcia -
59:35 - 59:40to a more contemporary figure,
Juan Downey, for instance, -
59:41 - 59:43a video art pioneer.
-
59:43 - 59:48They are from the later 1940s
through the 1980s. -
59:49 - 59:54I think in each case the documents
correspond at least in some way -
59:54 - 59:57to the conference paper
the resource that they're putting together -
59:57 - 59:59for the seminar.
-
59:59 - 60:03So I tried, in a way, to assign
or to suggest documents -
60:03 - 60:08that have a significance
beyond just the Documents Project -
60:08 - 60:12but that could, in a way,
feed into their other work, -
60:12 - 60:14and their work for their coursework,
-
60:14 - 60:18and for me, within the department.
-
60:18 - 60:23I have to say, it's been interesting
for me to have had these students -
60:24 - 60:26to involve in this project.
-
60:26 - 60:28It seemed like a good opportunity
for graduate students -
60:28 - 60:32to give them an opportunity
to publish and to contribute to -
60:32 - 60:37what I think is going to be a real key
document and archive in the field, -
60:37 - 60:42and for them to be credited as authors,
both in the digital version -
60:42 - 60:45and in the print form
of the Documents Project, -
60:45 - 60:47but also to expose them
-
60:47 - 60:51to this digital humanities
initiative in general. -
60:52 - 60:55To see what the process is
for cataloging -
60:55 - 60:59even if they don't get into the selection
of documents. -
60:59 - 61:02And then to write them up,
in two parts. -
61:02 - 61:04I don't know if we explained this.
-
61:04 - 61:07There's a short synopsis,
perhaps 100-200 words -
61:07 - 61:10and then a longer annotation,
300-400 words -
61:10 - 61:14in which the students--and I think
the drafts I have received -
61:14 - 61:16have been quite intelligent--
-
61:16 - 61:21The students then put their document
into the larger context -
61:21 - 61:24both within the Gomez Sicre papers,
in their case, -
61:25 - 61:28but then within the field itself,
of Latin American -
61:28 - 61:31or just of modern art.
-
61:31 - 61:34So, I enjoyed working with these students.
-
61:34 - 61:38I'm just beginning to get the first drafts
of their documents in. -
61:39 - 61:41We have a session coming up
in a couple of weeks -
61:41 - 61:44where we'll workshop
these entries together in seminar, -
61:45 - 61:49and kind of polish them to refine them,
before sending them to Olga! -
61:50 - 61:53And then she will eventually send them
down to Houston -
61:53 - 61:56and we'll look forward, of course,
to seeing them come out -
61:56 - 62:00in digital and in print form.
-
62:02 - 62:05That's really the end of the presentation,
-
62:07 - 62:09my part, or our part of the presentation
that I had planned. -
62:09 - 62:13These are just, again,
taking familiar images. -
62:13 - 62:17I guess in the time that we have left,
I'd love to have a conversation about -
62:19 - 62:21the challenges,
-
62:21 - 62:24the real meaning, the importance
of this kind of project, -
62:24 - 62:27not only for Art History
but within the humanities. -
62:27 - 62:29I'll say, I think I mentioned this
to someone earlier, -
62:29 - 62:31this has been my first venture
-
62:31 - 62:34into anything digital in Art History.
-
62:34 - 62:36And I have to say, I confess
to a real ignorance on my part. -
62:36 - 62:43I don't know that there are comparable
archives elsewhere in the humanities -
62:43 - 62:46and how something like this
at a Museum of Houston -
62:46 - 62:50might actually correlate to other efforts
within Latin America, -
62:50 - 62:54as you were saying earlier,
with the libraries or other projects. -
62:55 - 62:58Certainly more
[unclear] to take questions! -
62:58 - 63:01(audience member 4) We only have
a few minutes left, -
63:03 - 63:05but if you do have a question
or a comment -
63:05 - 63:06please feel free.
-
63:07 - 63:09(audience member 5) I have a question
just about student participation -
63:09 - 63:11in the project.
-
63:12 - 63:17It's always a tricky thing when students
are doing intellectual work for a project -
63:17 - 63:19to make sure
that they get sufficient credit -
63:21 - 63:22for the work that they do.
-
63:22 - 63:26So how will their work be recognized
in the larger archive -
63:26 - 63:29once it moves through to it?
-
63:30 - 63:35(Mari Carmen) We are giving them credit
if the entries are outstanding. -
63:35 - 63:37They appear as researchers.
-
63:37 - 63:40If they're fine, they appear
as collaborators -
63:40 - 63:44after the name of the person
who looks at the reviews. -
63:44 - 63:49So, for example, the synopsis
and annotations from Maryland -
63:49 - 63:52if they're outstanding, they would be
by themselves. -
63:52 - 63:56If not, they would have Abbie's name
and then their name, as collaborator. -
63:56 - 64:01And that is part of the publishing idea,
and part of the project -
64:01 - 64:04in motivating the engagement
or artists, of students, -
64:04 - 64:07and creating these very young scholars
to start developing, -
64:07 - 64:10and providing that foundation
for them -
64:10 - 64:13in terms of publication and participating
in larger projects -
64:13 - 64:16that are recognized in a scholarly
point of view. -
64:16 - 64:19(audience member 5) I think
this kind of work is really important. -
64:25 - 64:27(audience member 4) Any other questions,
comments, before we wrap? -
64:31 - 64:33(audience member 6) You all mentioned
the importance of linking the documents, -
64:33 - 64:35and that there was beginning
to be some work in that. -
64:35 - 64:40I was curious as to, how is the group
considering linking them? -
64:40 - 64:42Is it going to be in a more
curatorial process? -
64:42 - 64:46or do they directly connect this work
to this other work explicitly? -
64:46 - 64:48Or will it be through
a tagging system possibly? -
64:48 - 64:51like grouping together
categories via tags? -
64:53 - 64:55(Mari Carmen) In the forms
that are filled out, -
64:55 - 65:01because this is digital,
but there's a lot of handwriting -
65:01 - 65:04a lot of typing that goes into the
actual papers that we see. -
65:04 - 65:08There are certain keywords
that we include for each document, -
65:08 - 65:13so we're asked that we,
the researchers, include as many, -
65:13 - 65:16could be locations,
could be workgroups -
65:16 - 65:18could be dates, could be the countries.
-
65:18 - 65:22So there are wider keywords
for the searchable part -
65:22 - 65:26of the search engine to work.
-
65:27 - 65:32That's the way that it is,
in terms of if you write... -
65:34 - 65:37for example, a country, Chile,
-
65:37 - 65:40so that will pull all
the documents from Chile. -
65:40 - 65:42If you say Downey,
then that will connect Downey -
65:42 - 65:46with his presence, not only in Chile
but in Washington, DC. -
65:46 - 65:50And the other way that we're doing it,
in looking at the overall, for example, -
65:50 - 65:53for Washington DC,
especially these collections -
65:53 - 65:56that interconnect, we are writing
in the annotation, -
65:57 - 65:59"if you're interested in this topic,
see document..." -
65:59 - 66:04and we provide the number of
the document, the database number, -
66:04 - 66:07so people can look at
those documents as well. -
66:07 - 66:12But I think that will be the next stage
of the development of the database -
66:12 - 66:16which is a custom-made database
out of Sao Paolo, Brazil -
66:16 - 66:20with a team of database designers.
-
66:20 - 66:23So, that's something that is constantly
evolving and I guess -
66:23 - 66:28with the changes in technology,
we hopefully will see it. -
66:28 - 66:31And I think they're considering it
at this moment. -
66:32 - 66:35And, if not, we will let them know...
-
66:35 - 66:36(audience laughs)
-
66:36 - 66:38...about this presentation,
about these suggestions. -
66:40 - 66:43(Abbie) Olga and I are working also
on adding a couple of sentences -
66:43 - 66:46a short paragraph to all of the entries
that are coming out -
66:46 - 66:48of the Gomez Sicre papers.
-
66:48 - 66:51Just so that the people
who maybe happen upon -
66:51 - 66:56one of these documents,
not necessarily looking for them -
66:56 - 67:00would know actually the site,
the repository from where it came. -
67:00 - 67:02And so that they just don't see
these documents as well, -
67:03 - 67:06this exhibition on Downey,
maybe it actually did come out of Santiago -
67:06 - 67:10in fact, there's a very specific site,
site-specificity as it were, -
67:10 - 67:16for these documents, and we want
to actually retain that in our annotation. -
67:16 - 67:19Just to kind of recognize that,
and even call attention to it, -
67:19 - 67:21even if it's given in the cataloging
information -
67:21 - 67:25just to highlight its location.
-
67:27 - 67:27You had a question?
-
67:27 - 67:29(audience member) They're on next.
-
67:29 - 67:33(Mari Carmen) I wanted to comment
something on digital humanities. -
67:33 - 67:37This project, there is a project
out of the University of Houston -
67:37 - 67:38and it's Latino literature.
-
67:38 - 67:43And it follows certain similarities
in terms of the format -
67:43 - 67:45of this project.
-
67:45 - 67:50That was started by
Nicolas Kanellos in the 1990s -
67:50 - 67:54and it looks at US-Latino production
in literature. -
67:55 - 67:58So, there's a conversation
between the Houston Museum -
67:58 - 68:03and the University of Houston
in terms of exchanging the know-how -
68:03 - 68:05and also the best practices.
-
68:06 - 68:10And [inaudible] Martin,
who was the first cataloger, -
68:10 - 68:12she worked for the project
-
68:12 - 68:14and in fact she was recruited
after working there -
68:14 - 68:17to come to work on this project.
So there's a little bit -
68:17 - 68:20of that interconnection
in terms of the digital humanities. -
68:22 - 68:25Well, with that,
let's thank our presenters -
68:25 - 68:28for a very interesting presentation.
-
68:28 - 68:29(audience applauds)
- Title:
- Abigail McEwen: Archiving Modern Latin American Art: Sites, Students and Collaboration in the Greater Washington Area
- Description:
-
Abigail McEwen, Assistant Professor of Latin American Art
Department of Art History and Archeology, University of MarylandMonday, April 1, 2013
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- MITH Captions (Amara)
- Project:
- BATCH 1