Ai confini dell’opera. Problemi di comprensione dell’architettura

This contribution starts from some reflections on contemporary art and from problems developed, above all, by the philosopher Arthur Danto. Some artists, from Marcel Duchamp to Andy Warhol, have in fact pursued the goal of formulating works that are indistinguishable from an object of use. Is it possible to find values and recognition of an artwork when it is unrecognizable? The problem also has repercussions on architecture, albeit from very different perspectives. Architecture is considered as an object of use when it flattens itself on type and tectonics, as argued in the mid-twentieth century by Giulio Carlo Argan and Cesare Brandi. But is it certain that type and tectonics constitute residual moments without historicity? Michail Bakhtin's thought can help us to recognize historical values also in these components and to open ourselves to a broader and more organic vision of both history of architecture and its conservation.