Bodies of disappearance or representing the invisible. Tactics and repertoires of the International Association for the Defense of Artists Victims of Repression in the World in denouncing the last Argentine military dictatorship

Abstract

During the last Argentine’s dictatorship, developing legal and political procedures to inquire for disappeared people and representing their absence were both challenges. While placards with identity photographs and graphic campaigns of silhouettes prevailed in Argentina, different aesthetic strategies were created in Europe to denounce forced disappearance in the public space. Founded in France in 1979, spread around Europe and the United States, the aim of the International Association for the Defense of Artists Victims of the Repression Worldwide (AIDA) was to defend freedom of creation all over the world. How can the absence be shown? How can transnational public opinion be sensitized of forced disappearance? Analyzing AIDA’s campaign for “100 disappeared Argentine artists” this article shows that names and bodies were central elements in the multiple aesthetic tactics and repertoires used in order to represent them and to commit the international community to take action on this issue.