The day Venice was painted in rebelliousness

An action, a symbol, an  artistic act  that condensed a historical moment: that was what the intervention by  Nicolás García Uriburu  made in Venice was all about. It was  1968  when the  Argentine artist  — who lived nothing more and nothing less than Paris — stained the waters of the  Grand Canal in Venice  with fluorescent green. Some say that 68 was a key year, in which movements such as  environmentalism, feminism  and pacifism took shape. It was the year when the world woke up, in which people began to question things. Of course it was all part of a process, but for some reason everything seemed to explode almost simultaneously. In such a context, artists leave the canvases and museums; they seek to bring art closer to life.  García Uriburu 's action, within the framework of a Biennial to which no one had invited him, questioned the system of the arts entirely. It was a disruptive, clandestine action, for which he was even imprisoned for twelve hours, until the substance he had used was found to be non-toxic. That year, the image of  Venice's canals   painted in green  went around the world. That year, the year in which static models began to stagger slowly, this Argentine artist helped open a new course for the conception of art, while putting before the eyes of the world the unmeasurable impact man has on nature.