An important art critics’ conference was one of the events at the new Brazilian capital city’s cultural (neither architectural nor urban) inauguration. The Congresso Internacional Extraordinário de Críticos de Arte ran from September 17 to 25, 1959 in the cities of Brasilia, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro. The theme of the conference—“A cidade nova, síntese das artes”—had been proposed by the critic Mário Pedrosa, who gave the opening and closing addresses. The lectures given by critics and architects from other parts of the world prompted debates and arguments about Brazilian art and architecture.
The summary of the 7th session of the conference (entitled “Educação artística”) included lectures given by the critics Herbert Read and A. Sartoris, the architect and urban planner Lúcio Costa, and the Brazilian artists Theon Spanudis and Fayga Ostrower.
[As regards this subject, see in the ICAA digital archive the articles by Mário Pedrosa “A cidade nova, síntese das artes” (doc. no. 1086503) and “Lições do congresso internacional dos críticos” (doc. no. 1086667)].
Bruno Zevi, the Italian architect and theorist who was an advocate of “organic architecture,” stirred up a little controversy at the conference. During the closing session he spoke in sarcastic terms about his Brazilian hosts’ anachronistic decision to have an opera house and a Palácio do Planalto (government offices) in Brasilia, both decorated in abysmal taste. To underscore his opinion about the Nova-Cap, in particular, and Brazilian architecture in general, on his return to Italy he published Kafka nel Mato Grosso [Kafka in the Mato Grosso] in L’Expresso, the widely-read weekly magazine; in his article he describes the absurd expression of authority in the new Brazilian capital city.
