CONTACT
Nicolás García Uriburu
우리부루. 자연 속 실천 Uriburu. Actions dans la nature | 1968–2011 | 45’30”
© Legado Nicolás García Uriburu, Buenos Aires, 2026. Reproduced with permission.
Synopsis
Coloration du Grand Canal, Venise (1968); Uriburu. Actions dans la nature (1968–2011)
In June 1968, during—and without invitation from—the Venice Biennale, Nicolás García Uriburu colored the waters of the Grand Canal bright green using fluorescein dye. For several hours Venice’s most recognizable waterway became a striking field of colour visible throughout the city. Documented in the film Coloration du Grand Canal, Venise (1968), presented in the Scene 2 : Territorial Flow, the action marked a decisive shift in artistic practice: art no longer represented nature but intervened directly within it. Water became both medium and environment, while tides, currents and weather shaped the unfolding event. The second work, Uriburu: Actions dans la nature (1968–2011), presented in the Scene 4 : Air Between Us, brings together moving-image documentation of the artist’s environmental interventions carried out over more than four decades. Beginning with the Grand Canal action, the film traces a series of colorations of rivers and waterways across different continents. Together, the two works reveal Uriburu’s enduring vision of art as ecological action, extending artistic practice beyond the museum into the living systems of the planet.
About the artist
Nicolás García Uriburu (Buenos Aires, 1937–2016) was an Argentine artist whose work is widely recognized as a pioneering contribution to ecological art. Trained as an architect, he began his career as a painter, initially working in abstraction before turning toward figuration. Trees, animals and landscapes connected to the South American territory increasingly appeared in his work, reflecting a growing engagement with nature and environmental concerns. During the mid-1960s, Uriburu’s travels across the Americas and Europe expanded his cultural outlook and strengthened his sense of regional identity. In 1968, during the Venice Biennale—and without invitation—he carried out his renowned action of coloring the waters of the Grand Canal with a harmless fluorescent dye. This intervention marked a turning point, extending art beyond the museum into direct engagement with the natural world and documented through photographs and moving images. Uriburu later developed a series of actions and public interventions in rivers and urban spaces worldwide, bringing together art, ecology and civic engagement. In 2026, the tenth anniversary of his passing invites renewed reflection on his enduring legacy linking art, nature and environmental activism.