The November 2004 León Ferrari retrospective in the Centro Cultural Recoleta, curated by Andrea Giunta, marked a milestone in the relationship between art and the public, religious, and juridical spheres in the history of Argentine art. The show was first closed and then reopened on court orders, generating unprecedented debates and discussions far beyond the art world, involving society in general and lawyers and judges in particular. An attack on the exhibit by a group of religious fanatics, together with the demands of the Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, added fuel to a flurry of very public controversy that included the publication of more than a thousand press items—on several occasions featured on the first page of newspapers—over the course of the exhibit, as well as thousands of messages and signatures, in addition to the more than 7,000 visitors to the gallery itself.

Translated by Miguel Winograd