Rayado sobre el techo de la ballena, numbers 1 to 3 [complete set], Caracas: El Techo de la Ballena, March 1961 – 1964
Oliverio Girondo; Enrique Molina
Topatumba, Caracas: El Techo de la Ballena, 1963
Daniel González
Pictures that show different people, places, situations, etc., Caracas, n.d. [c. 1965?] [selection]
40 publications and documents.
El Techo de la Ballena (1961–1969) was a Venezuelan artistic and literary group embedded in Latin American avant-garde movements. It has been defined as a group with revolutionary intentions through the use of multidisciplinary mediums.
The group was comprised of plastic artists, narrators and poets such Juan Calzadilla, Daniel González, Rodolfo Izaguirre, Carlos Contramaestre, Gonzalo Castellanos, Francisco Pérez Perdomo, Edmundo Aray, Capoulicán Ovalles, Adriano González León and Dámaso Ogaz, among others.
In the context of the twentieth century and, more specifically, the sixties (the Cold War, May ’68 in France, the hippy movement, the Vietnam War, China’s Cultural Revolution, the Berlin wall, etc.), Latin American countries were satellites of hegemonic power, and the Cuban Revolution represented, for many places, a moment of change that gave rise to student and worker movements, guerrillas, repression and military dictatorships.
This provided the backdrop forEl Techo de la Ballena, a group of intellectuals, artists and litterateurs with avant-garde leanings and different revolutionary affinities, who defined their commitment to Venezuela as «Changing life, transforming society». Rayado sobre el Techo is considered the group’s periodical publication, of which three issues were published. Rayado sobre el Techo nº. 1, was published as a collective manifesto in March 1961. Archivo Lafuente boasts all issues of Rayado sobre el Techo, in addition to cards, printed matter, photographs and various books edited by the group such as Dictado por la jauría, by Juan Calzadilla; Sube para Bajar, by Edmundo Aray; and Los Venenos Fieles, by Francisco Pérez Perdomo.