Aquí no cabe el arte [Art Does Not Fit Here]

Antonio Caro’s politically engaged Conceptualism often employs established formats such as posters, marketing logos, language, visual repetitions, and cheap materials. These sixteen posters announces in stark, blocky letters: “Art does not fit here.” Under each of these letters are the names, dates, and places where members of the Guahibo indigenous community and university students that were killed by government-led operations during the presidency of Misael Pastrana Borrero (1970-1974). Made for the Colombian XXIII Salón de Artistas Nacionales in 1972, this piece is both an institutional critique and a denunciation of violence, questioning what role art and institutions should take during a time of political crisis.