The Scars of Violence in the Collection of the
Museo de Arte Moderno
2015
Bilingual edition, Spanish/English
Text: Ana María Battistozzi
Graphic Design: María Sibolich
Translations: Kit Maude
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100 pages
Format: 25x20cm
ISBN 978-987-27159-7-7
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In an extended essay by Ana María Battistozzi this book provides a particular look at
the ways violence is present in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, an institution
that has accompanied more than half a century of Argentinian art history since 1956. The
essay focuses in on certain works from the collection, tracing connections and potential
lineaments for thinking both about the violence that manifests itself in figuration and that
applied in ways of working matter, and opposing other ways of making and
conceptualising history.
‘Bearing in mind that the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires was founded by decree
in 1956, the year after the so-called ‘Revolución libertadora’ which overthrew the government
of General Perón, it is clear that the heritage the institution came to build could not remain
aloof from the tensions between the winners and losers that defined the decade. But they did
not end there: tension would reappear cyclically in different forms that over time began to
become disconnected from their epic origins, returning in far less noble incarnations. In fact,
a kind of reiterative impulse has almost made the looming threat of violence within Argentinian
society a natural feature of the landscape. ’
Ana María Battistozzi
