Diego Barboza
(Maracaibo, Venezuela, 1945 – Caracas, Venezuela, 2003): Mixed media artist and pioneer of action art in Venezuela. He began to develop his practices in his country in the 1960s, but it wasn’t until his “poetic actions”—carried out throughout the Seventies across different European cities—that he would define his role as a conceptual artist, key to understanding contemporary manifestations of the late Latin American 20th century. His interactive, playful, and participatory work takes on public space as stage and sustenance for developing his free expressions through streets, squares, and other city spaces; with these, he continues to experiment with the festive, the customs and traditions. A large part of his ideas was embodied in self-publications that, as pedagogical experiences, have survived through the narratives of his archive, oral tradition, and unconventional communication methodologies. After studying and living in London, he returned to his home country in 1973, where he devoted his years to the development of his work, with renewed interest in manifestations such as painting and collage.
