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 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. Glusberg was affiliated with the industrial sector through his firm, Modulor S.A., which sold light fixtures.
Paolo Carlodalatri graduated with a degree in architecture from the Università de La Sapienza in Rome. He later emigrated to Argentina where he took postgraduate classes at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. He worked in the field of urban planning, which included the construction of industrial complexes and the construction of facilities and machinery. In February 1975 he presented a six-part seminar at the CAYC titled “Arquitectura, urbanismo y utopía” (GT-478; doc. no. 1479004). He also organized an exhibition of videotapes “Arquitectura italiana contemporánea” (GT-739; doc. no. 1477391). Both events were part of the program of activities offered by the Escuela de Altos Estudios (EAE) and promoted by the center.
As part of the exhibition mentioned above, this newsletter announces a couple of events designed to evaluate urban planning solutions to address demographic changes in Latin American countries. The solutions used in these exercises were modeled on those created for southern Italy.
