CALL FOR PAPERS

QUADERNI CULTURALI #8

Connected Constellations. transnational artistic trajectories between Italy and Latin america during the Cold War

 

In 1974, the Venice Biennale dedicated a special section to Chile (Freedom for Chile) in the aftermath of the 11 September 1973 military coup, giving voice and visibility to an artistic community in exile. This episode, now recognised as a turning point in cultural diplomacy during the Cold War, highlights the central role played by Italy as a place of refuge, exchange and artistic production for numerous Latin American artists, but also as a platform for relations and exchanges that involved, in both directions, artists, critics and intellectuals active between Italy and Latin America.

Almost fifty years on from that edition – a defining moment for a transnational art scene marked by solidarity and political commitment – the focus of this issue of IILA’s Quaderni culturali aims to investigate the historical, material and cultural dynamics that accompanied artistic exchanges and movements between Latin America and Italy between the 1950s and 1980s, with a particular focus on the trajectories of Latin American and Italian artists, theorists and art critics who travelled between, lived in or exhibited in Italy and Latin America. Their presence, often linked to experiences of exile, migration, travel or education, is not confined to the biographical or political sphere, but has sparked aesthetic exchanges, transformed artistic languages, opened up spaces for hybridisation and generated transnational cultural networks – sometimes fleeting, other times enduring and influential.

From a related perspective, this issue of Quaderni culturali seeks to open new avenues of research in art history and visual culture. Through the analysis of specific case studies, the essays will aim to propose a more nuanced reading of the artistic relations between Italy and Latin America, transcending linear national narratives and centre-periphery models, and highlighting processes of exchange, co-production, and the mutual transformation of languages. The experience of displacement and the mobility of material artefacts (works of art, writings, exhibitions) will thus be investigated as active elements in the development of new visual languages and perspectives, questioning notions of aesthetic interaction, collaboration, and national and cultural identity.

This issue will welcome contributions which, combining historical, critical and visual perspectives, will focus on:

• the presence and trajectories of Latin American and Italian artists, theorists and art critics between Italy and Latin America, encompassing exile, migration, travel and collaboration;
• the exhibitions, festivals and artistic, cultural and educational institutions that have hosted or promoted these figures, as well as independent spaces and contexts dedicated to experimentation.
• the aesthetic languages and ideas born of these intersections, together with the forms of critical reception in Italy and their resonance in Latin American contexts;
• the memories linked to the experience of travel, exile or migration, and the narratives – personal and collective – that have emerged from them in the artistic sphere;
• the intellectual and cultural networks that have facilitated the circulation of works, practices and ideas between Latin America and Italy.

By focusing on narratives that are often marginalised in the official canons of art history, yet crucial to understanding the depth of cultural ties between the Global South and Mediterranean Europe, this issue explores these shifting threads that have redefined the artistic imagination of the second half of the past century. Articles, ranging in length from 5,000 to 7,000 words, must be submitted by 21 August 2026. The documents required for proposal submission and the journal’s guidelines can be found on this website: https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/iila.

The accepted languages are: Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, and English.

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IILA’s Quaderni Culturali is an international open-access journal founded in 2018 by the Cultural Secretariat of the International Italo-Latin American Organisation (IILA). The journal publishes thematic issues annually and features contributions in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and English.

Quaderni Culturali publishes studies and analyses on Latin American art and culture. The journal focuses in particular on cultural circulation and addresses issues of critical and methodological innovation from an interdisciplinary perspective.

 

CALL FOR PAPERS 

QUADERNI CULTURALI #5

Critical views on Latin American comic strips

//// Deadline for Submission of Articles: 15 June 2023 /////

Latin American comic strips, as an object of study, had a slow entry into foreign universities and even more so in Latin American ones, undervaluing their cultural impact and the potential of their language. However, in recent years, this has begun to be reversed through the organisation of congresses and seminars, the emergence of specialised groups and journals, as well as the creation of chairs dedicated to their study. In these instances, the establishment and expansion of the canon has been discussed, as well as the status of the comic strip in the academic sphere, taking into account the tensions that arise when approaching it critically. 

For this reason, the new issue of the Journal "Quaderni Culturali IILA" will aim to focus on Latin American comic strips, considering their various artistic, cultural and political manifestations.

The journal "Quaderni Culturali IILA" invites researchers, institutions, and users to submit articles that propose critical readings of Latin American comics, based on the following themes:

- The status of comic strips in Latin America.

- Latin American comic circulation networks.

- Feminisms, masculinities, and other identities.

- Rescue of cultural heritage.

- Reappropriation and influence of foreign comics (genres, manga, etc.).

- Indigenisms.

- Urban and rural spaces in Latin American comics.

- Medicinal graphic narratives.

- Historical or memory narratives.

- Distribution formats: magazines, digital comics and/or webcomics, books, fanzines.

- Formalities and games with the language of comics.

- The role of the author in Latin American comics.

- Latin American comics and their relationship with other media (cinema, TV, theatre, etc.)

Articles of no more than 5,000 to 7,000 words shall be submitted by 15 June. The documents required for submission and the editorial norms of the journal can be found at

https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/iila.

The languages accepted are Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French and English.