UNAM and UAZ launch International colloquium on art history

International Colloquium on Art History at Teatro Fernando Calderón

Art experts, historians, and scholars gathered at the Teatro Fernando Calderón in Zacatecas to launch the L International Colloquium on Art History. UNAM Rector Leonardo Lomelí Vanegas stated during the opening that questioning certainty remains essential for analyzing art history and distinguishing between authentic works and forgeries.

The event, titled The Ambiguity of the Authentic and the Productivity of the False, runs in Zacatecas, where the first edition of the colloquium took place.

Social Criteria Shape Value of Historical Objects

Lomelí Vanegas emphasized that examining materials and provenance requires understanding the criteria that different societies use to recognize originals, copies, and fakes. He added that these standards shape both the value assigned to objects and how history interprets them. Those guidelines influence the value that we attribute to objects and the manner in which we interpret their history, Lomelí Vanegas said via remote address.

Determining whether a piece is genuine involves scrutinizing its provenance, authorship, and the social parameters that confer relevance. UNAM Humanities Coordinator Miguel Armando López Leyva pointed out that the colloquium addresses the ambivalent perception of copies alongside the negative intent associated with falsifications. He noted that the event investigates the cultural significance of replicas, restorations, and misattributed authorships.

Falsification as a Productive Economic Force

Lorena Jiménez Sandoval, secretary general of the Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, represented Rector Ángel Román Gutiérrez at the opening ceremony. Jiménez Sandoval described fake art not as an absence of value, but as a productive force that generates markets and shapes modern realities.

Velázquez Guadarrama traced the history of the event back to its roots in Zacatecas and a subsequent 1993 gathering. She noted that the colloquium has evolved into a key forum for new approaches to art studies and established generational academic networks across Latin America.

Photographs from Manuel Toussaint Archive Go to University

The current edition includes the photographic exhibition titled Blue Sky and Red Earth: Zacatecas, Art History, and Heritage. The display features images from the Manuel Toussaint Photographic Archive captured by photographers such as Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Justino Fernández, and Elisa Vargaslugo. Organizers announced that these photographs will be donated to the Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas.

María de Jesús Muñoz Reyes, director of the Zacatecas Culture Institute, welcomed attendees at the inaugural session alongside Rie Arimura, an academic from the ENES Morelia unit and member of the colloquium’s scientific committee.