The transformation of matter by humans is at the forefront of the aesthetic considerations of human productions. How the material is deemed and accepted as familiar, dignified or not, determines the place given to the object in a history of "noble" (canvas, marble, plaster) or "unoble" (earth, vegetable fibers, bark, fabrics) materials. Likewise, the processes by which materials are handled and transformed by the artists' techniques may lead to the exclusion of matter from canonical narratives.
How do these dynamics manifest themselves from places –not necessarily geographical– that are considered outside the hegemonic discourses and narratives in art and outside the conventional discourses covering different perspectives and temporalities in art? As in other regions, in Latin America, the choice of materials, production strategies, and circulation is, in most instances, determined by their accessibility in local environments, not present or disregarded in other parts of the world, such as barniz de Pasto or mopa-mopa in Colombia, grana cochinilla (Dactylopius coccus) pigment and featherworks in Mexico. Simulation of noble materials in colonial sculpture in Nuevo Reino de Granada or murals that imitate marble such as the National Theatre in Costa Rica. The material's election can also account for the syncretism of traditions, techniques, and materials.

This panel deals with the extent to which the choice of material actively influences what the historiography of the art history of the Western North Atlantic region has disregarded or considered as an art. Although this panel was established to discuss the place of Latin America in the global context and the use of diverse local materials in artistic practices, we open the dialogue to investigations from other latitudes outside the prevailing narratives that address these issues.

From the perspective of material cultural studies, we expect contributions in the methodological-historiographical debate and in the discourses and processes that concern materials regarding their physical properties/qualities, their corporeality, transformation, artists' preferences that should remain central in the debates concerning materials used in artworks. Although from a theoretical perspective, human actors encode matter with meaning, from a methodological standpoint, things in motion illuminate their social and human context, as this panel focuses on trajectories and the circulation of materials in space and time from a transregional perspective.

Table ronde :

"Latin American case studies: dynamics of locations and materials"

• Mauricio OVIEDO - The affordances of the cancel at the Sanctuary of Jesus the Nazarene in Atotonilco: a discussion on locations, materials and consumers
• Leonardo SANTAMARÍA-MONTERO - Material Culture and Visual Sovereignty of the K’iche’ Maya Communal Authorities of Totonicapán in Nineteenth Century Guatemala
• Elodie VAUDRY - Materials of the Latin American pavilions at the Paris World Fairs, XIX -XXe century
• Zanna GILBERT - Transgressive Matters: Mail Art and Embodiment in Latin American art
• Pia GOTTSCHALLER, Fernanda MENDONCA PITTA - The Brazilian Egg Tempera Revival: Eleonore Koch and Alfredo Volpi
• Lara DEMORI - White Powders/White Powers: Unconventional Materials in the Work of Hélio Oiticica in the 1970s