There is a National Psychedelia. This affirmation was the basis for a show of the MAMBA Collection, presenting a tour through the iconography and artistic scenes of another time: the extreme pop of the exuberant sixties and intense early seventies, placing a particular emphasis on its foundations (criollo surrealism, malleable geometry, local kinetic and light art, the omnipresent international vanguards) and its subsequent influence.
Proposing an alternative to its historically countercultural narrative, in this exhibition psychedelia is presented as a mixture of different formal symptoms. It was initially called ‘lisergic art’ because it was the product of experimentation with hallucinogenic substances – especially the psychotropic effects of LSD – and on this occasion we reassess the materiality of its visions and ongoing morphologies: lines, textures, volumes as we trace the Psychedelia Gene through the past and present.
Graphic design, painting, collage, experimental cinema, sculpture, photography, etchings, objects, and industrial design from the Museum’s collection all feature in the exhibition. Psychedelia is thus reconstructed in a quest to uncover its tricks, precursors and heritage.
This exhibition featured artworks by: Roberto Aizenberg, Juan Andino, Pompeyo Audivert, Luis Fernando Benedit, Bandi Binder, Ricardo Blanco, Mildred Burton, Miguel Caride, Camelo Carrá, Juan Cavallero, Jorge de la Vega, Casimiro Domingo, Manuel Espinosa, Carlos Furman, Edgardo Giménez, Abdulio Giudici, Luis Gowland Moreno, Miguel Harte, Fabio Kacero, Bruno Janello, Julio Le Parc, Alfredo Londaibere, Eduardo Mac Entyre, Rómulo Macció, Victor Magariños, María Martorell, Marta Minujín, Oski, Aldo Paparella, Martha Peluffo, Rogelio Polesello, Marcelo Pombo, Pérez Celis, Omar Schilliro, Antonio Seguí, Carlos Silva, Oscar Smoje, Carlos Squirru, Juan Stoppani, Peter Van Artens and Xul Solar, among others.
