Nicolás García Uriburu: the artist and ecologist who colored the Grand Canal

On Sunday morning, Venice woke up once again to the waters of its canals painted fluorescent green, an event that, although peculiar, is not new to the city. It was Nicolás García Uriburu, with his artistic performance "La Coloración de Venecia," who achieved a similar result in 1968 when he colored the Grand Canal emerald green.

As well as being a time of great social ferment throughout Europe, 1968 was also the year of the 34th Venice Biennale, and it was here that Uriburu would make his first intervention in nature on June 19. Using sodium fluorescein, a dye that is harmless to the marine ecosystem, the artist illuminated the green hue of the canals, exactly as it happened on May 28, 2023, sparking a series of speculations about who might have been the author of the gesture and the possible message behind it. So far, the search has been fruitless. Uriburu's message, however, was clear: to raise awareness on the issue of water pollution. This mission led the artist to engage in other performances that he would stage in the rivers of New York, Paris, and Buenos Aires, as well as in fountains and ports around the world.

Uriburu was not officially invited to the Biennale that year, and he would never exhibit there during his lifetime. However, he decided that Venice would be the perfect theater for his work, so he traveled by train from Paris to Milan, where he purchased the dye, and then continued by train to the lagoon. He stayed at a small hotel near St. Mark's Square, all at his own expense. Since the Biennale's curators had not selected him to exhibit, he could not rely on any financial or institutional support. Only the French art critic Pierre Restany offered him moral support.

"La Coloración," as he called it, began at six in the morning but was far from peaceful, with the police chasing the artist and his entourage once they were discovered. Upon returning to the hotel, the Argentinians were even kicked out of the premises, accused of being "rascals" and "terrorists." Uriburu managed to leave Venice but was later detained in Milan, where a team of scientists analyzed the agent he used in his performance to determine whether it might have caused any environmental damage.

The event caused such a stir that, before the harmlessness of the gesture was confirmed, some even called for the end of the Biennale. However, the situation was resolved, and Uriburu was praised for his art and for an artwork that went on to mark the beginning of the so-called "land art."