The Pamplona Encounters 1972: The End of the Party for Experimental Art

October 28, 2009 - February 22, 2010 /
Sabatini Building, Floor 3

At the beginning of the summer of 1972, the “Pamplona Encounters” were held - the most extensive and significant international avant-garde art festival held in Spain. Imbued with the idea of diffusing art into life, these were ephemeral encounters, set up as an opportunity to subvert the order established at the end of the dictatorship in Spain.

The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía previously dedicated an exhibition to the festival in 1997, entitled Los encuentros de Pamplona 25 años después (The Pamplona Encounters 25 Years On). The present exhibition does not look to create a version of the works, or deal with the events that occurred, since it maintains their contradictions open. Therefore, the eight days of the Encounters are addressed from the point of view of a large public event that intentionally ascribed to the poetry of process.

The event was organised by artists, the ALEA group - specifically Luis de Pablo and José Luis Alexanco as intellectual managers - and was financed, almost entirely, privately by the Grupo Huarte, thus favouring decision-making beyond the market and art institutions.

The Encounters saw the start of an artistic journey that brought Pamplona up alongside the Spoleto Festival, Documenta 5 in Kassel and the XXXVI Venice Biennial. The main principles maintained a dialogue between the avant-garde and popular tradition, the interaction between artists and the public and its integration in one public space - the city. In tandem with the international avant-garde, the most experimental and obscure trends in Spanish art took centre stage. Moreover, the works of 350 artists, not just from Spain, displayed the latest expressions in visual, sound and action poetry, conceptual art, video art, computer art, plastic arts, electronic, minimalist and action music as well as experimental film and past avant-garde movements.

Due to the way in which the city was set up with the express purpose of setting a public space in motion, the Encounters can be considered as the biggest public art event to take place in Spain. However, the consequences for Spanish art remained paradoxical; without a legitimate avant-garde tradition as a global and militant project, the festival offered a panorama of the most radical movements from the Sixties exactly at a time when they were beginning to lose credibility in Spain given that everything artistic was immediately interpreted as an ideological event.

Exhibition´s details

Organized by: 
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
Curatorship: 
José Díaz Cuyás, Carmen Pardo and Esteban Pujals
Exhibition Tour: 

Museo de Navarra, Pamplona (March 25 -June 13, 2010); Ciudadela de Pamplona (March 25, 2010 - July 3, 2010)

Artists:
Francesc Abad, Javier Aguirre, Juan Antonio Aguirre, Antonio Agúndez Leal, José Luis Alexanco, Marcel Alocco, Franck Ancel, Carl Andre, Shusaku Arakawa, Alain Arias-Misson, Hermanos Artze, John Ashbery, Elena Asins, Ronaldo Azeredo, Manuel Barbadillo, Mario Barberá, Néstor Basterretxea, Jacques Bedel, Carlo Bellori, Luis Benedit, Jordi Benito, Juan Bercetche, Gianni Bertini, Santi Pau Bertrán, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Julien Blaine, Juan Manuel Bonet, Eugeni Bonet, Jean-François Bory, Stefan Bretch, Sylvano Bussotti, John Cage, Augusto de Campos, Carles Camps i Mundó, Ivan Cardoso, José Luis Castillejo, Eduardo Chillida, Hans Clavin, Alberto Corazón, Nacho Criado, Guy Debord, Guillermo Deisler, Harmen Deman, Diego El de Gastor, Reinhard Döhl, Peter Downsbrough, Ed Emsschwiller, Equipo Crónica (Manuel Valdés [Valencia, 1942]; Rafael Solbes [Valencia, 1940-1981]), Luc Ferrari, Ken Friedman, Juan Daniel Fullaondo, Heinz Gappmayr, Ilse Garnier, Pierre Garnier, Jochen Gerz, Madeline Gins, Carlos Ginzburg, Jorge Glusberg, Gerardo Gombau, Ignacio Gómez de Liaño, Eugen Gomringer, Jorge González Mir, Paco Grande, Lily Greenham, Víctor Grippo, Grupo Gran de Gràcia, Grupo Zaj (Ramón Barce [Madrid, 1928 - 2008]; Juan Hidalgo [Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1927 - 2018]; Walter Marchetti [Canosa di Puglia, Italia, 1931 - Milán, Italia, 2015]; Esther Ferrer [San Sebastián, 1937]), Pío Guerendiáin, Guerrilla Art Action Group, Al Hansen, Juan Hidalgo, Dick Higgins, Lejaren Hiller, Joaquín Ibarz, José Luis Isasa, Estudio fotográfico L. Jiménez, J.M.Ordás, Mauricio Kagel, Leandro Katz, Kindel, Jiři Kolář, Richard Kostelanetz, Uzi Kotler, Ferdinand Kriwet, Auro Lecci, Andrés Lewin-Richter, Robert Llimós, LUGÁN (Luis García Núñez), Gerard Malanga, Hossein Malek, Charles Manson, Walter Marchetti, Tomás Marco, Hansjörg Mayer, Isidoro Valcárcel Medina, Josep María Mestres Quadreny, Manuel Millares, Herminio Molero, Eduardo Momeñe, Franz Mon, César Moro, Antoni Muntadas, Luis Muro, Paz Muro, Juan Navarro Baldeweg, NUMAY, Jesús Ocaña, Dennis Oppenheim, Marie Orensanz, Luciano Ori, Jorge Oteiza, Jordi Pablo, Luis de Pablo, Antoni Padrós, Pablo Palazuelo, PANDO, Joaquín Pasos, Luis Pazos, Alberto Pellegrino, Michelle Perfetti, Décio Pignatari, Julio Plaza, Eduardo Polonio, José Miguel de Prada Poole, Manolo Quejido, Horacio Quiroga, Martial Raysse, Jasia Reichardt, Steve Reich, Juan Carlos Romero, Rafael Ruiz Balerdi, Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza, Guillermo Searle, Francisco Javier Seguí de la Riva, Tom Seitz, Danny Seymour, José Antonio Sistiaga, M-E. Solt, Gonzalo Suárez, Julio Teich, Clorindo Testa, Francesc Torres, Enrique Torroja, Horst Tress, David Tudor, Horacio Vaggione, Ji Í Valoch, Jiři Valoch, Bernar Venet, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Paul de Vree, Emmet Williams, Horacio Zabala View more