Oscar Bony's 1968 Performance La Familia Obrera Examined at Buenos Aires' Instituto Di Tella

In 1968, Argentine artist Oscar Bony presented La Familia Obrera at Buenos Aires' Instituto Di Tella, featuring a working-class family displayed as living sculpture within the gallery. This institutional critique unfolded during Argentina's developmentalist dictatorship under Juan Carlos Onganía, which demanded increased productivity from citizens. The Instituto Di Tella itself operated as an extension of Argentina's prominent industrial company, with funding from the Ford and Rockefeller foundations. By May 1968, the institute had gained notoriety for both its experimental media works and its controversial financial backing from transnational corporations. Many Argentine artists that year rejected cultural institutions in favor of public activist projects, positioning themselves as cultural workers. Bony's work instead created reflexive commentary from within the institutional framework, engaging with contradictions of modernization. The performance manipulated its audience through processes of surrogation while appearing straightforward. La Familia Obrera questioned how artistic labor transforms when representing working-class subjects within corporate-funded spaces.