Transnational Encounters: Diasporic Narratives across Italy and Latin America (1960s–1980s)

Dr. Lara Demori

Dr. Demori’s research project investigates the presence of Latin American art and artists in Italy from the 1960s to the 1980s. More specifically, it explores their reception and collaboration with Italian artists and cultural institutions and assesses the impact they had on both local narratives and the consequent formation of transnational dialogues and hybrid styles.
The presence of Latin American artists in the United Kingdom and France has already been studied extensively. However, the same is not yet true for Italy, where art-historical studies have always privileged transnational dialogues across Europe or with the United States, neglecting the many far-reaching contacts and migrations between Italy and several Latin American countries.
To fill this gap, Dr. Demori’s project examines Latin American diasporic narratives that centre around Italy during the 60s and 70s, a particularly fruitful period for the arts. Her research is divided into three themes, each representative of a different perspective on these narratives: the presence of Latin American artists in Italy; Latin American artists featured at the Venice Biennale and the influence on their contemporaries; and the connections and differences between the art-historical ideas that travelled between the two countries.