Equipo 57 was founded in 1957, against the background of the revival of geometrical and kinetic art in Paris, and continued until 1962. It was formed by a group of Spanish artists and architects (Ángel Duarte, José Duarte, Juan Serrano & Agustín Ibarrola) as a reaction against the ubiquitous nature of informalist art and lyrical abstraction. Instead, they advocated political and social change through a new concept of art. The group's brief existence was marked by constant commitment to geometrical abstraction and exploration of form beyond the scope of traditional works of art.

These works, which are closely linked to synthetic cubism and the machinist aesthetic, bear witness to that exploration. They show a strong focus on the study of formal space, imbued with dynamism through colour and volume. In comparison with later works from the group, the pictorial profiles are blurred in a spirit that is less dogmatic than that of geometrical art. However, they were already sacrificing the informalist option of immediate gestures in favour of the need to measure the evolution of colour exactly to achieve an effect of continuity, a more direct link between art and the world. The members of Equipo 57 thus set out their manifesto against the individualist, expressive painting of informalism.

Untitled (Preliminaries) (1957) marks a significant point in the birth of the movement. It thus has considerable historical value, as it belongs to the time when the group had not yet abandoned the weave of canvas for hardboard, which gives paintings a flatter look, and applications closer to papier collé. The 'preliminary' nature of the work also comes from the idea that it looks to a more visually radical future in which patches of colour would be more constrained and would interact with other pieces, objects and even films. During an exhibition at the Sala Negra ['Black Room'] in Madrid the members published their first theoretical text - La interactividad del espacio plástico ['The Interactivity of Plastic Space'] - and presented their first (and only) short film Interactividad cine 1 ['Interactivity Film 1'], using a cartoon technique with over two hundred gouaches, including two works called Untiltled (film) (1957).

• Carlos Martín
• Beatriz Espejo