Research Notes on "This Must Be the Place: An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York 1965-1975" (self-selected text)

Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022, 245. 

Text Description: 

This Must Be the Place: An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975 explores the experiences of Latin American artists who migrated to New York in the late 1960s, offering an oral history of their lives and work. The book highlights how these artists pioneered a transdisciplinary and conceptual approach to art, deeply informed by the physical, social, and ideological in-betweenness created by migration. As newcomers, they navigated alienation and kinship, producing works that questioned the politics of representation, belonging, and identity.

Structured thematically and enriched with artworks, photographs, and archival material, the text examines how these artists challenged institutional norms and created alternative spaces for community and creativity. It underscores their explicit sociopolitical critique of U.S.-Latin American relations and their nuanced exploration of the term "Latin American" as both a political and cultural identity. Their practices reveal a simultaneous engagement with and differentiation from the dominant artistic movements of the time, such as Minimalism and Conceptualism.

This text is essential for my research, offering insights into the transnational and transdisciplinary dynamics of diasporic art practices. Its themes of liminality, positionality, and the redefinition of belonging closely resonate with my focus on Latinx migration, cultural hybridity, and the politics of place-making in my thesis.

Notes:

INTRO

  • Oral History based
  • Index
    1. The City as their impact of the physical and social atmosphere
    2. Community and institutions as their challenge of cultural norms and creating alternative spaces and practices to the institutional ones
    3. Politics, Identity and the Body - involvement in politics and activism
Key Points
  • Collective Archive: Their collaborative networks made their artwork possible 
  • Centering their own bodies (performance and video work) -> politics of representation comes into question
  • Transnational and transdisciplinary spirit of their activities
BELONGING --> works are rooted around questions about the uncertainty of belonging
  • Their experiences were defined by alienation, as well as a simultaneous sense of kinship with fellow immigrants
  • LOCATION 
      • Temporal and ideological liminality AND,
      • very specific geographical in-between created by migration

Juanita Arango, personal photo of journal notes, September 21, 2024.

"LATIN AMERICAN"

Political and cultural identities that were used as framework for understanding their place in (NYC, the capital of) the Western World.
  • They differentiated themselves from North American artists through their EXPLICIT treatment of issues of identity, migration and sociopolitical critique of relations between US and their home countries.
  • This was a TASK of:
    • HISTORICAL RECUPERATION and,
    • POLITICAL STRATEGY, challenging the idea that identity is ever fixed (Western mindset)
  • They were redefining how to position their identities
                            Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022, 12.

"LATIN AMERICA"
as a single geographic or political category
X 
- Unstable and Problematic
- overlooks diverse languages, ethnicities and national experiences
- RACE as other layer of exclusion
  • works as IDENTIFICATION for artists (not as definition X)
  • Challenges divides (language, racial and regional differences across) in search for REGIONAL UNITY
  • Chosen status as "LATIN AMERICANS" allowed artists to:
    • engage in political solidarity across countries, cultures, and other divides
    • reclaim reductive categorization enforced by American society
  Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022, 17.
Liliana Porter, Untitled (The New York Times, Sunday September 13, 1970), 1970. In "This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975.", 2022, 18.

Jaime Davidovich, still from La patria vacía (The empty homeland), 1975. In "This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975.", 2022, 21.

★ HÉLIO OITICICA

 Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022.
  • Artist statement "Information"
    • internationalism
    • politics of representation
    • tokenism
 Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022.
  • On Politics of representation and identity:
 Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022, 341.

★ CILDO MEIRELES
  • Artist statement "Information"


Cildo Meireles, photo of artist statement from Information, ed. Kynaston L. McShine (New York: The Museum of Modern Art), 1970, 85. In "This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975.", 2022, 169.
  • Questions of Latinx Diaspora and Identification -> questioning the ways we see ourselves and the community through a Western mindset of fixed identities or constructing ourselves as a monolith...
Coca-Cola Bottles and Subway Tokens

Cildo Meireles, photo of Inserçoes em circuitos ideológicos: Projeto Coca-Cola (Insertions into ideological circuits: Coca Cola Project), 1970. In "This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975.", 2022, 390.
    • Instructions to Molotov cocktail ;)
     Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022, 392-3.

    THE CITY

    Initial Impressions of the City

    • Photography as DOCUMENTATION of their early responses as they found their place in the city.
     Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022, 26.

    Zulema "Beba" Damianovich, envelope with drawing, 1956. Courtesy of the estate of the artist. In "This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975.", 2022, 56-7.

    Máximo Rafael Colón, Self-Portrait, 1974. In "This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975.", 2022, 67.


    COMMUNITY AND INSTITUTIONS

     Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022, 147.
     Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022.

    MUSEO LATINOAMERICANO
    Frente, no. 1 (March 1971). Museo Latinoamericano. In "This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975.", 2022, 157.

    MUSEO DEL BARRIO
     Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022.
    EL TALLER
     Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022, 186.



    POLITICS AND IDENTITY

    Introduction - Context and Purpose

     Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022, 246.

     Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022, 247.

     Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022, 248.

    Activism 
    (Left) Flyer for Chilean mural protest: part II, October 27, 1973. 
    (Right) Flyer for the recreation in new York of a mural originally created by Brigade Ramona Parra by the Mapocho River in Chile, October 20, 1973. In "This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975.", 2022, 252-3.

    View of the original mural by Brigade Ramona Parra at the Mapocho River, Chile, 1972. In "This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975.", 2022, 255.
     Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022.

    Puerto Rican and NUYORICAN Activism

     Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022, 394-5.

     Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022, 270.

    Back cover of Palante 2, no.13 (October 16, 1970). In "This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975.", 2022, 271.

    Mary Breasted, "30 in Puerto Rican Group Held in Liberty I, Protests," New York Times, October 26, 1977, 30. In "This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975.", 2022, 274.

    MICLA's Contrabienal - São Paulo Biennial

    Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022.
    Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022, 303.

    Leandro Katz, original collage for back cover illustration for Negación y consume en la cultura (Negation and consumption in the cultural sphere) by Guy Debord. In "This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975.", 2022, 304-5.

    IDENTITY AND REPRESENTATION


    Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022, 328-9.

    POSITIONALITY - Geographical Borders - Reorientation

    Rubens Gerchman, A Nova Geografia / Homenagem à Torres-García (The New Geography / Homage to Torres-García), 1971. In "This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975.", 2022, 116.

    Rubens Gerchman, 1971.In "This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975.", 2022, 339.



    Ruben Gerchman, stills from Triunfo Hermético (Hermetic Triumph), 1972. In "This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975.", 2022, 340.

    Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022.

    Body

    Aimé Iglesias Lukin, This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975, 2022.

    LINKS FOR NEXT STEPS ON RESEARCH

    • Research Hélio Oiticica
      • Hamaca artwork and installations
    Hélio Oiticica exhibition
    https://www.dlwp.com/exhibition/helio-oiticica/
    https://culturenightlosangeles.wordpress.com/2015/05/27/global-conceptualism-articles-part-2-2015/
    https://www.dlwp.com/exhibition/helio-oiticica/

    Bibliography

    Iglesias Lukin, Aimé, Abigail Lapin Dardashti, Harper Montgomery, Yasmin Ramírez, Karen Marta, Tie Jojima, Garrick Gott, host institution Americas Society, and host institution Americas Society. This Must Be the Place : An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975. Edited by Karen Marta and Tie Jojima. New York, NY: Americas Society, 2022.

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