Arte Concreto-Invención, Arte Madí

In 1944 the publication of the only issue of Arturo: Revista de artes abstractas (Arturo: Abstract art review) ushered in the Argentine avant-garde. The journal involved artists, musicians, and writers and endorsed abstraction over representation in art. Among the visual artists were Carmelo Arden Quín, Gyula Kosice, Tomás Maldonado, and Rhod Rothfuss. The movement quickly fractured into two dissenting yet ideologically related groups, Arte Madí and Associación Arte Concreto-Invención. Arte Concreto-Invención, led by Maldonado, promoted "scientific aesthetics," which included the use of mathematics in the production of a "logical" art (the values of concrete art). Arte Madí, led by Kosice, emphasized movement, spectator participation, interdisciplinary approaches, and new technologies and materials. By 1947 further disagreements resulted in other splinter groups. Although Arte Madí and Arte Concreto-Invención were short-lived, their impact was profound. The movements also had ramifications in Europe, as many of the artists traveled there in the following decade.