One of Argentina’s most prominent contemporary artists, Marta Minujin is best known for producing conceptual and participatory events, or “Happenings”. Beginning her career in Paris, Minujin later moved to New York, where she befriended Andy Warhol, whose influence can be seen in her works that satirize consumer culture. One of her best-known works from those years, Minuphone (1967), invited viewers to enter a telephone booth, dial a number, and watch as sounds and colors projected from the glass panels, while a television screen on the floor displayed the caller’s face. In 1983, following the return of democracy to Argentina, Minujin created a monument to freedom of expression, The Parthenon of Books (1983), in which a structure built of newly unbanned books was erected in the middle of a Buenos Aires thoroughfare; after it was dismantled, the books were distributed to the public.
One of Argentina’s most prominent contemporary artists, Marta Minujin is best known for producing conceptual and participatory events, or “Happenings”. Beginning her career in Paris, Minujin later moved to New York, where she befriended Andy Warhol, whose influence can be seen in her works that satirize consumer culture. One of her best-known works from those years, Minuphone (1967), invited viewers to enter a telephone booth, dial a number, and watch as sounds and colors projected from the glass panels, while a television screen on the floor displayed the caller’s face. In 1983, following the return of democracy to Argentina, Minujin created a monument to freedom of expression, The Parthenon of Books (1983), in which a structure built of newly unbanned books was erected in the middle of a Buenos Aires thoroughfare; after it was dismantled, the books were distributed to the public.
