Dreams of a Continent

A biography of Artists Call, an influential 1980s artist group that protested US intervention in Latin America.

The 1980s saw the flourishing of neoliberalism in all realms of culture. In the fine arts, libertarian individualism, media sensationalism, and profit motive converged in million-dollar auctions—and a widespread insistence that activism had no place in the arts. Yet even some participants of this elite New York art world resisted. Dreams of a Continent tells the forgotten story of a diverse collective that defied culture-industry norms by condemning Reagan-era imperialism in Latin America while building transnational solidarity.

Drawing on fresh archival discoveries, Erina Duganne reconstructs the political imagination of Artists Call Against U.S. Intervention in Central America. A network with more than a thousand members in New York City, Artists Call produced thirty-one exhibitions in its brief life, along with poetry readings and performances that brought together US and Latin American cultural workers in support of self-determination throughout the hemisphere. This richly illustrated volume shows how the aesthetics of Artists Call emphasized historical contingency in order to envision radically alternative futures. In the process, its activism fostered a global community that overcame stark North-South power imbalances.