Modern kinetic art: description, features, representatives. Kinetic art in the second half of the twentieth century

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Kinetic art is a modern direction that first appeared in the twentieth century, when the creators of various fields were looking for something new for themselves, and, in the end, they found it. It manifested itself in the plastic of sculpture and architecture. In this article, we will consider what the kinetic art of the 20th century is, how it found its application later, its origin, development, and much more.

Origin of the name

How the word sounds also matters - that's why the definition of a new, previously unknown term can be found not only by looking it up in the explanatory dictionary, but also by finding out the origin. In this case, the concept of "kinetic art" is closely related to the Greek word "kineticos" - "one that sets in motion." I immediately recall the section of physics "kinematics", which, as you know, also studies this particular process.

That's why kinetic art is compositions that are moving, three-dimensional, sculptural and/or architectural. It refers toartistic avant-garde. Kinetic art was first heard about at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The birth of a new direction

In the twenties of the last century, Vladimir Evgrafovich Tatlin, the pioneer of kinetic art, builds a model of the tower of the Third International.

In 1931, the then little-known Alexander Calder creates his first masterpiece from the famous wire structures, set in motion with the help of a motor. Over time, his compositions grew, amounted to a whole cycle of works of art under the general name "mobiles".

Both the native creator and the genius from another continent pursued the same goal: to breathe new life into sculpture, to say no to its static nature, to overcome the limits of tradition and allow it to interact more with the environment. The movement was to be the link between the masterpiece and the world.

Establishing new traditions

In the sixties of the twentieth century, the French artist and art theorist Nicolas Chauffer, as well as the Argentine artist Julio Le Parc, finally set new rules with their work and answered the question of what kinetic art is.

They both wanted to convey in their compositions the spirit of the scientific and technological revolution that reigned at that time and used optical and acoustic effects for this noble purpose. In fact, this was expressed in the fact that their work changed at once on several levels: mechanical (structure, form), visual (colors, light and shadows)and audio (stereo and mono).

Bright, diverse means were very accurately chosen so that the specificity of the time became expressed and recognizable. The main features of the scientific and technological revolution, its dynamism, strength and power - this is what kinetic art expressed in the second half of the 20th century.

Distribution

In the sixties, the spread of kinetic art reached its zenith. Around this time, a term appeared that denotes this direction, which is still used today. He immediately captured the minds of mankind from Europe to America. The kinetic art of the USA and Europe merged into one - the creators aspired to similar goals, but at the same time it manifested itself in different ways.

Nahum Gabo: Russian-American avant-garde

Russian and American artist Nahum Gabo has developed his own formula of life and art, identifying them with each other. Their components, as well as the basis, the base on which they must be built, he called space and time.

Gabo didn't aim for complexity; his models, masterpiece compositions, were created from simple geometric shapes. His "Virtual Forms" have greatly influenced contemporary kinetic art. Who would have thought that the vibration of metal plates could carry such a deep meaning and express the power of the era!

Revitalization of matter

Masters of the twentieth century often used electric motors to revive frozen matter. But this was not the only method. As well as thanks to the scientifictechnical revolution, physical processes have become not only an object of study, but also a means to achieve goals, this effect has not bypassed art. Geniuses around the world have experimented with the flow of water, wind, and the power of the earth.

Thus, Marcel Duchamp's amazing rotating disks were obtained - a composition that fascinates, and Jean Tinguely recreated the creation of his mind in reality - the mechanisms are not only self-propelled, but also prone to self-destruction, while making sounds - a kind of musical accompaniment. The author of the famous Stravinsky fountain collected them from industrial scraps of various variations. All this leads to the conclusion about another remarkable feature of kinetic art - the variety of forms and the use of unusual materials to create unique effects.

The search never ends

Kinetic art is a new stage, but by no means a starting point or a destination. With a bright light, it made ideas play with new colors, inspiring feats. Representatives of kinetic art have firmly entered its history - from Rodchenko to Ucker. Searches in this area have led to the fact that cinematography has found application not only in sculpture and architecture. Kinetic art in painting was called optical and gradually transformed into "op art".

Optical illusions of op art

Movement in painting manifested itself characteristic of this speciesart - purely visually, at the subconscious level. After all, op art is based on visual illusions - when it seems to people that space and matter are changing. However, even here, in order to achieve the desired effect, the creators had to apply scientific knowledge - to play on psychophysiological factors, to force the viewer to see exactly what they had in mind. And the more the result is manifested, the more surprising is the actual static nature of the work. This is the main difference between op art and traditional kinetic art.

Aesthetic specificity

Kinetic sculptors revived matter, artists - space. Deepening it and painting it in all sorts of colors, they take them away to some kind of their own world, hidden not on the canvas, but somewhere inside. It's like a hole in which Alice once fell, trying to keep up with the rabbit. The feeling is akin to how you fall asleep, and takes you into the most secret dreams. This is what the visitors of the exhibition "Responsive Eye" experienced in the sixty-fifth year of the last century by Egem, Demarco and others, who opened a new page in the history of painting.

The first works were done in black and white - the masters were just trying their hand at a new art form. After all, in the end, everything is subject to kinematism - it destroys the boundaries. This delights, but also frightens, which is why the artists stepped carefully, mastering new techniques, impressing more and more. Now op art, on the contrary, is characterized by the most bright, contrasting shades, hard mixing to achieve the desired effect.

Elements of dynamics in folklore

Folk art, many people intuitively oppose modern. In some ways, of course, they are right, because folklore is the storage of the memory of the culture of the nation, and contemporary art is the creation of culture right now. But, speaking of kinetics, we can safely say that the thread of elements of dynamics has been stretching for a long time, through the centuries, although this tangle was noticed and unraveled only in the twentieth century.

Objects and toys that were moved and produced by craftsmen from the Arkhangelsk region are all the beginnings of kineticism. It is fully manifested in Russian culture. More than once in this article, two extreme points have been mentioned - America and the Soviet Union, where many geniuses come from.

Development of kinetic art in the USSR

The group "Movement" was a real educator and master of its craft - it was its members, under the leadership of their leader, Lev Nusberg, who promoted (sorry for the tautology) kinetic art to the Soviet masses.

"Movement" was subjected to persecution, because so far not as much information has come about the group as we would like. But, nevertheless, their name remained on the pages of the history of kineticism, and it is they who are remembered in the first place, talking about exactly how it manifested itself in the USSR.

In the sixties of the twentieth century, the "Movement" organized and participated in a huge number of underground and official exhibitions. The guys were not afraid to take on large-scale projects - and sothe futuristic "Macropolis" was born, the idea of the city of the future.

Despite the fact that the "Movement" obviously broke all the limits, they also received state orders, for example, the decoration of Leningrad on the day of the October Revolution. The group made exhibition compositions, theatrical performances, circus and cinematic scenograms.

Unfortunately, another reason why little is known about the "Movement" is that discord often occurred in the group, and as a result, a new team separated from it, and closer to the eighties, the popularity of the direction began to decline.

Modern Kinetic Art

Works of kinetic art have the highest degree of aesthetics, therefore they are often used as decor to decorate the surrounding space. Elements of moving compositions can be both full-fledged exhibits of the exhibition, and its addition. They are also used for artistic expressiveness of mass events (for example, fairs), when decorating parks, shopping and entertainment centers, squares, and so on.

For such purposes, kinetism works closely with op art - the visual illusions of the latter are enhanced by changing glow and stereo sound effects.

That is, the kinetic art of the present time can be said that it is more often used for entertainment purposes. Since the era of scientific and technological progress, which it was intended to reflect, has already passed, and we have entered the age of information technology, social networks and the Internet,we need a new direction that would express the principle of thinking of the modern generation. Nevertheless, the works of kineticism by the great masters remained known both in a narrow circle and popular in a wider one. Anyone can learn more about mobiles, and Soto's graceful constructions, and the embodiment of Schoffer's large-scale ideas - all these things were created not just to attract attention, but were the mirror of an entire generation.