Ever since it was founded, the CAYC (Centro de Arte y Comunicación), helmed by the cultural promoter, artist, and businessman Jorge Glusberg, was intended as an interdisciplinary space where an experimental art movement could flourish. The establishment of collaborative networks connecting local and international artists and critics played an important role in this process. In addition to the exhibitions, a program of different activities exposed attendees to the latest in art and scientific thinking. According to Glusberg, the coordination between theoretical thinking and artistic practice was an essential part of social change.
Architecture and design were always basic components of the CAYC’s interdisciplinary approach. In its early years, the center became affiliated with the Fundación de Investigación Interdisciplinaria (Foundation for Interdisciplinary Research), an organization that welcomed a group of dissident professors from the Facultad de Arquitectura y Ciencias Exactas at the Universidad de Buenos Aires following the forced occupation of universities that took place after the coup d’état in 1966. That earlier affiliation left an indelible mark on various aspects of the CAYC’s operations, such as its approach to many of its initiatives as “projects;” the use of heliographic copies in its exhibitions, a technique usually used for copying blueprints; the center’s collaboration with the industrial sector in exhibitions and contests; and the presence of several artist-architects among the founders of the Grupo de los Trece.
Lighting is an umbrella term that refers to the technical and scientific knowledge involved in the study of artificial light, considering its application for different purposes and in different environments. The Asociación Argentina de Luminotecnia (AADL, Argentine Lighting Association) was founded in the city of Córdoba in 1966. Two years later the first IRAM-AADL standard was introduced to the public, establishing parameters for interior lighting.
The CAYC created initiatives like this seminar (GT-279; doc. no. 1478830, GT-280; doc. no. 1478825, GT-282-282/1; doc. no. 1478827) as opportunities for exposure and exchange, which contributed to the development of disciplines that were thought to have been ignored or overlooked in Argentina during the 1970s. Courses, exhibitions, and competitions of this type frequently enjoyed the support of companies engaged in the production and marketing of industrial products. A case in point was the involvement of Noren Plast S.A. (a supplier of plastic materials) in the exhibition Escultura, follaje y ruidos in 1970 (GT-8; doc. no. 1477957, GT-17; doc. no. 1477959), or the competition organized by the Aurora home appliance company in 1971 (GT-41; doc. no. 1478238, GT-42; doc. no. 1478064, GT-47; doc. no. 1478075). Glusberg had connections to the industrial sector through his own company, Modulor S.A., which sold lighting fixtures.
