Art and Utopia in the Forging of the Word

Abstract

This article presents a panorama of the role played by art in Mexico’s 1968 student movement, which constituted a watershed not only in Mexican history, but also worldwide, because this manifestation formed part of the demonstrations that in that year (and even somewhat earlier, from the time of the anti-war protests against United States involvement in Vietnam) were unfolding around the world. Our interest in addressing this issue nearly 41 years after the event, arises from the fact that it marked a period in which the youth took to the streets to claim their rights in every way possible, and civil society participated in a clear and conscious manner that Adolfo Sanchez Vasquez calls “the assault on the possible Utopia”, a Utopia that is not posited for the future, but is sought and defended in the present. The year 1968 brought about the integration of the political artist with social movements in this decision to “be realistic and demand the impossible”.