In this editorial, which appeared in the magazine A & D (Arquitetura & Decoração), Décio Pignatari discusses the poetry that was presented at the I Exposição Nacional de Arte Concreta (1956). When concrete poetry no longer used verse, other things, such as space, time, and movement, which had always been part of the visual arts, architecture, and electronic music were addressed. The author reminds the reader that concrete poetry became more directly in touch with other forms of artistic expression. Pignatari explains that the São Paulo concrete movement simultaneously pursued the intrinsic issues relating to art as well as questions concerning visual culture.  

This article, which appeared in the twentieth issue of the magazine A & D (Arquitetura & Decoração), lists the works of the participating artists at the I Exposição Nacional de Arte Concreta, which was organized in 1956 by the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, and then installed in the galleries at the MES (Ministério da Educação e Saúde), Rio de Janeiro, the following year. The exhibition presented, for the first time, a collection of visual works created by concrete poets in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.   

As from the 1950s the author, Décio Pignatari (1927–2012), was one of the key Brazilian proponents of a new kind of poetry that was primarily focused on its visual aspect, as per his “Manifesto de Poesia Concreta” (1961) which he coauthored with the brothers Augusto and Haroldo de Campos. In addition to his work in advertising and his role as a radical art critic, Pignatari was one of Brazil’s pioneers in the field of semiotic studies. His thesis (FAU-USP, 1979) on the theory advanced by Charles Sanders-Peirce, was published as: “Por um pensamento icônico: semiótica da arte e do ambiente urbano.” A communications theorist, he translated works by Marshall McLuhan. At a more creative level, he translated classical works by Dante, Goethe, and Shakespeare.

[See the ICAA digital archive for the text: “Plano-pilôto para poesia concreta,” by Augusto de Campos, Décio Pignatari, and Haroldo de Campos (doc. no. 1090135), published in Noigandres. See also the following articles published in A & D: by Décio Pignatari, “Forma, função e projeto geral” (doc. no. 1090070); by Oscar Niemeyer, “O problema social na arquitetura” (doc. no. 1110341); by Waldemar Cordeiro, “O objeto” (doc. no. 1086891) and “Teoria e prática do concretismo carioca” (doc. no. 1087287); by Theon Spanudis, “A pintura de Alfredo Volpi” (doc. no. 1085614) and “A pintura de José Antonio da Silva” (doc. no. 1110357); by Augusto de Campos, “Poesia concreta” (doc. no. 1090169); and by Eduardo Corona, “O testamento tripartido de Max Bill” (doc. no. 1110330)].