Materialidades de un espacio en ruinas: El arte de Feliza Bursztyn y Alicia Barney

Authors

  • Manuela Luengas Columbia University

Keywords:

Feliza Bursztyn, Alicia Barney, arte colombiano, deshechos, Latin American Cultural Studies, trabajo, materialidad

Abstract

From the 1960s to 1980s, Colombia’s culture experienced a surge of modernization and institutionalization, along with apparent economic prosperity. During this period, numerous museums were established and a “new art” was promoted which, according to critics of the time, reflected various trends in international art. In this article, I demonstrate how Colombian artists Feliza Bursztyn (1933-1982) and Alicia Barney (1952-) warned that this project of economic and cultural boom was full of holes and used their art to prefigure its ruin. Through an analysis of their reflections on the genres to which their art was assigned—abstract art and conceptual art—and their use of practices, materials and spaces considered “extra-artistic”—e.g., metallurgy and toxic waste—I show how Bursztyn and Barney use their art and its ruinous materiality as a vehicle for social criticism. This article demonstrates that Bursztyn and Barney anticipate a theory and praxis of art from a dislocated place and produce works that warn of developmentalism’s collapse. Studying them today from an objectual and materialist perspective opens new genealogies to approach mid- to late-20th century Latin American art.  

Published

2025-05-14

How to Cite

Luengas, M. (2025). Materialidades de un espacio en ruinas: El arte de Feliza Bursztyn y Alicia Barney. A Contracorriente: Una Revista De Estudios Latinoamericanos, 22(3), 75–111. Retrieved from https://acontracorriente.chass.ncsu.edu/index.php/acontracorriente/article/view/2484

Issue

Section

Articles / Artículos