Poetics of Landscapes seminar series
Tuesday 25 March 2025, 1-2pm, UCO30
Dr Natalia Sassu Suarez Ferri
By the end of the 1960s, Paris had become a vibrant hub for Latin American artists seeking visibility, access to cultural networks, and often refuge from political oppression. Within this dynamic environment, artists pursued innovative methods to engage public consciousness through participatory, street-based artworks. This paper explores Une journée dans la rue (1966) by GRAV (Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel) and Chromosaturation (1965-1969) by Carlos Cruz-Diez. In positioning these interventions as poetic acts, this paper will demonstrate how these artists wove colour, texture, and material presence into a visual language that evoked wonder, curiosity, and new awareness. As GRAV famously declared: ‘It is prohibited not to participate. It is prohibited not to touch. It is prohibited not to break.’
Natalia Sassu Suarez Ferri is a Lecturer and current Director of Teaching in the School of Art History, University of St Andrews. Her research focuses on Latin American modern and contemporary art and transnational links between Latin America and Europe. Recent publications include articles for Tate Papers and Third Text, amongst others. She recently co-edited ‘Transmission and Gender: Women Artists as Teachers in the XXth Century’ for The German Center for Art History in Paris (DFK) and the University of Heidelberg.
