Confronting Bodies: Jorge Romero Brest - Dir. Centro de Artes Visuales del Instituto Di Tella
Date of Action: 1965
Specific Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Description of Artwork: La Civilizaciõn Occidental y Cristiana (Western and Christian Civilization) - 1965, (122 X 198 X 60 cm) A Christ figure is cruxified to a fighter jet. His arms span the wings as he grasps a missile on either side. He also presented three other works criticizing the Vietnam War.
Description of Incident: During a competition held annually by the Centro de Artes Visuales del Instituto Di Tella, its director Jorge Romero Brest denied the exhibition of Ferrari's "La Civilizaciõn...". He was however permitted to exhibit three other works criticizing the Vietnam war. In a Sept. 9, 1965 article in La Prensa, the conservative critic E. Ramallo attacked Ferrari's work resulting in the remaining work censorship.
Results of Incident: As a result, in 1967, Ferrari and other artists involved in the incident at the Instituto Di Tella organized an exhibition at Galeria Vignes. Immediately following the opening, the gallery owner closed the exhibition because the artist René Cuellar exhibited a picture of Che Guevarra.
Source: Leon Ferrari