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 (a technique usually used for copying blueprints) in its exhibitions; the Center’s partnering with the industrial sector in exhibitions and contests; and the presence of several artist-architects among the founders of the Grupo de los Trece.
This newsletter invites readers to two events or Encuentros Abiertos on the subject of “El arquitecto, su cliente y su obra” [The Architect, his Client, and his Work], to be presented by the architects Mario Goldman and Emilio Gómez Luengo in December 1975 at the CAYC. Both speakers are partners at Goldman, Gómez Luengo y Asociados, an architecture and urban planning firm, where they work on multiples projects in different architectural fields: apartment buildings, residential complexes, and institutional and corporate buildings, all of which are based on innovative planning and execution.
This Encuentro is described as a “space for reflection” on architectural projects, highlighting the interaction between architects and their clients. Participants include architects, students, public employees, trade union members, and businessmen in the construction industry.
The CAYC created initiatives like this seminar (GT-279; doc. no. 1478830, GT-280; doc. no. 1478825, GT-281; doc. no. 1478826, GT-282-282/1; doc. no. 1478827,GT-462; doc. no. 1478863) 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 Norenplast S.A. (a supplier of plastic materials) in the exhibition Escultura, follaje y ruidos in 1970 (GT-08; doc. no. 1477957, GT-17; doc. no. 1477959), or the competition organized by the Aurora home appliance company in 1971 (GT-41; doc. no. 1478063, GT-42; doc. no. 1478064, GT-47; doc. no. 1478075). Another was Glusberg’s firm, Modulor S.A., which sold lighting fixtures.
