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magazine | revista nueva visión N° 4 & 2/3, artes / arquitectura / diseño industrial / tipografía, 1953. design | diseño Tomás Maldonado

That search soon takes on a more explicit artistic and ideological form, with groups such as Asociación Arte Concreto-Invención and Madí. What does this mean for the relationship between art and design? 

With AACI, and later Madí, art is explicitly conceived as a project. Representation gives way to inven tion: art as something that can actively intervene in reality. This way of thinking brings art closer to design. In figures such as Tomás Maldonado, one sees how this approach extends to graphic design, typography and later industrial design. Through magazines such as Ciclo and Nueva Visión, a concept of visual culture emerges in which art, technology and mass production converge. Alongside artists including Lidy Prati, Carmelo Arden Quin, Gyula Kosice and Raúl Lozza, a visual language develops that encompasses painting, architecture and design. Government initiatives and international exhibitions, such as the São Paulo Biennial in Brazil, reinforce this process. By the late 1950s, these ideas become increasingly institutionalised and form the basis for the professionalisation of graphic design in Argentina.

Conversation between Jan De Vree and Jelle Jespers, 2026  read further here.