New Genres: ligh art

Gyula Kosice: Intergalactic, a tribute to the pioneer artist of Latin American kinetic art at Malba

August 05, 2024 | nadiaevangelina

On the 100th anniversary of Gyula Kosice's birth, Malba inaugurated an exhibition that seeks to highlight the pioneering role of the Slovak-Argentine artist and his contribution to the international context of postwar art. "Gyula Kosice: Intergalactic" brings together more than 80 works made by the artist between 1950 and 1980. Highlights include plastic sculptures, kinetic reliefs, and water drops. But above all, for the first time in many years, "The Hydrospatial City" as a whole is exhibited in Argentina.

Constellation 2 of the Hydrospatial City, 1971

Curated by María Amalia García and Mari Carmen Rodríguez, this homage to Kosice aims to review the most important milestones, among which his role as a precursor of kinetic, luminous, and hydrokinetic art stands out. Kosice was also co-founder of the Rio de la Plata constructive art groups Arturo (1944) and Madí (1946). This exhibition, which does not follow a chronological order but is structured in thematic nuclei, was designed based on a comprehensive survey of the artist's archive.

The first room houses some of his works in plastic, specifically in Plexiglas, a material that captured him for its flexibility and implied an alliance with companies. Another room presents Kosice's works from the 1940s and 1950s when he began to work with neon. It is a room full of color, with luminous graphics, reliefs, and hemispheres.

Triad, 1960

Room View

The main protagonist is "The Hydrospatial City", his most emblematic creation, an aesthetic and political project that synthesizes his thought and praxis. In one of the rooms, you can see 19 models of hydrospatial habitats and, around them, seven luminous constellations. This installation embodies a revolutionary idea that obsessed the artist since 1946 -when he began to write, draw, and layout around it- and that was scientifically approved by NASA. The project was feasible but required an excessive budget: a man could inhabit modules supported by clouds.

The proposal of a society that would float 1.5 kilometers above the earth's surface went beyond the sculptural and proposed another mode of social organization. According to the artist, "We only use a minimum proportion of our mental faculties adapted to modules derived from the so-called modern or functional architecture". In his idea, the conventional division of the home into kitchen, bedroom, and bathrooms is replaced by spaces that encourage a playful and emotional humanity.

"Gyula Kosice: Intergalactic" is not a retrospective, a total look at his work, but it is the first major exhibition after his death. The exhibition concentrates on his plastic production and his luminous and hydrokinetic work.