Las conferencias de Giulio Carlo Argan en Madrid (1964): la perspectiva de Jorge Oteiza

Abstract

In 1964, Giulio Carlo Argan gave three lectures in Madrid under the title “Status and Problems of Contemporary Art”. Jorge Oteiza attended the lectures and took an active part in them. Drawing on original and unpublished material, this paper looks at his thoughts on the second lecture, entitled “Design and Technology in Art and Architecture”. It analyses and compares the ideas of both authors from three standpoints: the “law of changes” as applied to architecture and certain architects; aesthetics and ethics in the field of architecture; and the integration of art with architecture rather than with engineering. As a result of these discussions, and prompted by the existing debate on the teaching of architecture in Madrid, Oteiza proposed a New School of Architecture and Comparative Aesthetics. This paper thus aims to expand on the study of Argan’s influence on Spanish architecture, a field in which Oteiza was proactively involved.