Borges Cultural Center – 2013
At the beginning of 2006, The Line Thinks entered serenely the scene of visual arts in the City of Buenos Aires. A brief but accurate manifesto by the project’s directors plainly announced their main aim: giving drawing in and from Argentina the place it deserved on account of its quality and number of devotees, a place that was, in spite of those factors, denied to it. Today, after seven years of work and over sixty exhibitions, there is no doubt that the project must be considered a part of the history of Argentinian art from the beginning of this century, the history of the works, the artists that were brought together and, probably, the history of the various trends and concerns that they express. But it will also be part of the history of a chapter in the social practice of art, which is still being developed. Because, in an absolutely natural way, almost involuntarily, The Line Thinks became the center of one of the concerns of contemporary art: the bond between artists and institutions, the visibility of the different artistic productions, the minimal existence of the work whenever it is confined or withdrawn to and from silence. In that way, the spaces, circumstances and rules of the exhibition were subverted by the gesture of Luis Felipe Noé and Eduardo Stupía, which cracked the field of arts. Sixty exhibitions and their catalogues prove it and reveal a rich, almost exquisite, repertoire of works and artists, unsuspected, hidden, in fact, some years ago. At the same time, the visibility that this project reached seems to be enhanced by the imprint that Noé and Stupía’s gesture leave on the project and on the artists summoned. It is the limit established by two artists that are highly respected by their colleagues and institutions, who take on, in an absolutely natural manner, the task of pointing at any artists or works that deserve to be highlighted for their contribution to contemporary art. Nowadays, just mentioning an artist’s participation in The Line Thinks as part of their career triggers a special interest in art professionals and galleries. Besides, the place that drawing occupies in the field of arts has changed and now many young artists, both from Buenos Aires and from other cities in Argentina, are taking part in projects that have them at the center; at the same time, books of and about drawing multiply. However, or precisely for that reason, every new edition of The Line Thinks is awaited with the certainty that there is a huge vital field, with great works, and that each exhibition will uncover new pieces and new experiences, as if the project was a great display of discipline, comprehensively understood, that is being built in time.