The Museo Moderno is honoured to present this exhibition devoted to Nacha Guevara, one of Argentinian culture’s most influential artists. Restless, provocative and always ahead of her time, Nacha turned her trajectory into a realm of experimentation, sensitivity and rebellion. Over six decades, she has steered a bold course through theatre, music, film and television, explored the intersections of art and politics and, from the stage, responded trenchantly to social and cultural changes.
Nacha Guevara: Here I Am traces the acts of extraordinary daring that have marked her prolific career. By foregrounding the different aspects of her work, the exhibition highlights the relevance of her pioneering approach to our country’s cultural history. The arc of Guevara’s career is presented in nine fundamental albums. They stand as milestones in her work as a singer and converse with the historical context reconstructed in the gallery through texts and documents from her vast personal archive. From her beginnings as an exponent of the Nueva Canción [New Song] in the 1960s and her arrival at the Di Tella Institute under the aegis of Roberto Villanueva, to her consolidation as a central figure in café-concert and musical theatre and her continued relevance today, the exhibition revives the experience of an artist who has endured exile and assassination attempts, overcome stereotypes and turned every stage appearance into an act of resistance. This journey is completed with audiovisual recordings of her shows, abundant documentation and a series of portraits revealing the multiple facets of a figure capable of embracing change as a compelling need to embody and, at the same time, question the spirit of each period.
Nacha Guevara: Here I Am celebrates Nacha’s inexhaustible capacity for transformation and her radical commitment to social critique and artistic freedom. We invite you to discover the many different dimensions of her life and legacy. Welcome!
Guest Curator and texts: Álvaro Rufiner
General coordination: Noelia Magnelli and Agustina Vizcarra
Museographic design: Iván Rösler, Álvaro Rufiner and Daniela Thomas
Graphic design: Andrés Brück and Job Salorio
Production: Laura Roldán
Curatorial assistance: Florencia Morel and Lucila Zin
Research assistance: María Ángeles Fernández Rajoy
Video edition: Guido Della Bella y Sol Navedo
Acknowledgements: Jorge Bravo – Claudio Cabre – Mirtha Cumini – Victoria Rufiner – Eduardo Cacho Vázquez – Newspaper Archive, Magazine Archive and Microfilm Division of the National Library of Congress – Newspaper Archive of the Mariano Moreno National Library – José Hernández Public Newspaper Archive of the Buenos Aires Autonomous City Legislature – Radiotelevisión Española RTVE.
Nacha Guevara (Mar del Plata, 1940) is an actress, singer, dancer and theatre director. She is a pioneer of the café-concert and musical theatre in Argentina and is recognised as one of Latin America’s most versatile and influential artists.
In 1968, she presented Nacha de Noche [Nacha by Night] at the Instituto Di Tella. This was followed shortly afterwards by Anastasia querida [Dear Anastasia], which established her as a leading figure of the Buenos Aires scene. In 1973, she premiered Las Mil y una Nachas [The Thousand and One Nachas], a show in which she played sixteen different characters and was a resounding success. The political violence of the 1970s profoundly impacted her life: after receiving death threats from the Alianza Anticomunista Argentina [Argentine Anticommunist Alliance] and a bombing at one of her theatrical performances, she went into exile, first in Mexico and later in Spain, where she toured extensively and received critical acclaim. She also won over audiences in Brazil and the United States, where she worked with celebrated director Harold Prince.Returning to Argentina in the 1980s, she premiered Aquí estoy [I’m Still Here], a show seen by more than 160,000 spectators. She co-wrote and directed several musicals, including Eva: el gran musical argentino [Eva: The Great Argentine Musical] and Nacha 100% [100% Nacha]. In 1991, she surprised audiences with Heavy Tango, an album that sparked debate with its fusion of tango and rock but that once again revealed her innovative spirit.
In the 2000s, she performed on stages throughout Europe and America, published her book 60 años no es nada [60 years is nothing] and continued to tour internationally. In 2008, she revived Eva, el gran musical argentino with enormous success and, in 2011, directed and starred in Tita, una vida en tiempo de tango [Tita : A Life in the Age of Tango], in which she played the role of renowned popular artist Tita Merello.
In 2023, at the age of 82, she returned to Avenida Corrientes, the heart of Buenos Aires’ theatre district, with Nacha en pijama [Nacha in pyjamas], and released the album Voy a cantar lo que se me canta [I’ll Sing Whatever I Please]. Tireless, provocative and full of life, Nacha Guevara, continues to reinvent herself and push boundaries more than six decades into her remarkable career.
