Kinetic Art (1992)
(Also Kineticism, the Movement Movement.) Excerpt fr. John A. Walker’s Glossary of Art, Architecture & Design since 1945, 3rd. ed.
artdesigncafé | café library | Published 16 June 2011
This text is an excerpt from Walker’s 1992 glossary previously published by Library Association Publishing, London.
Kinetic Art
The word “kinetic” derives from the Greek for “moving”. In the nineteenth century it was applied to movement phenomena in physics and chemistry. In the twentieth century it was used sporadically in the context of the plastic arts but Kinetic Art as a distinct movement did not really emerge until the 1950s: it then reached a climax in the ’60s. This kind of art has been called “four-dimensional” because it adds the dimension of time to sculpture.
Naum Gabo, the Russian constructivist, created the first Kinetic work in 1920 when he used a motor to vibrate a vertical steel rod. Shortly afterwards Marcel Duchamp, the French dadaist, invented some rotating reliefs and demi-spheres. However, before 1945 Alexander Calder’s “mobiles” were perhaps the best-known and most popular form of Kinetic Art. According to Frank Popper, various kinds of movement can be identified within Kineticism: (1) actual movement— mobiles, moving lights, machines: (2) virtual movement— a response in the viewer’s eyes to static visual stimuli: (3) movement of the viewer in front of the work or manipulations of its parts by the spectator. Some theorists prefer to categorize virtual movement as “op” or ’optical’ art rather than Kinetic Art: even so, the two are obviously closely related and they have often been discussed together.
Kinetic Art generally required technical proficiency (Kinetic works owned by museums are all too frequently out of order) and therefore adherents of the movement sought a union of art, science and technology. They had a propensity to form groups (e.g. GRAV, Gruppo N, Gruppo T, Group Zero) and to pursue “visual research”. Many Kinetic artists seemed to believe that static art was inherently inferior to art that moved: its critics, however, referred to it disparagingly as “turntable art”. Kinetic Art was an international movement, but one especially favoured in Europe and South America in the 1960s. The major artists associated with it were: Yaacov Agam, Pol Bury, Frank Malina, Nicolas Schöffer, Jesus Raphael Soto, Takis, Jean Tinguely, Victor Vasarely and Yvaral. Tim Lewis is a British Kineticist whose work was much praised in 1989. A cynic might argue that the experiments of modern Kinetic artists found their social fulfilment in the light shows of the pop music discos of the 1970s and ’80s.
See also Cinétisations, Electronic Art, Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV), Gruppo N, Gruppo T, Light Art, Nouvelle Tendance, Op Art, Programmed Art, Spatio-Dynamism, Technological Art, Zero Art Group.
References and further readings
> György Kepes (Ed.). The nature and art of motion. (Studio Vista, 1965).
> Kinetic and optic art today. (Buffalo, Albright Knox Gallery, 1965).
> Stephen Bann & others. Four essays on Kinetic Art. (Motion Books, 1966).
> (Special issue on Kinetics). Studio international, 173(886), February 1967.
> Michael Compton. Optical and Kinetic Art. (Tate Gallery, 1967).
> Guy Brett. Kinetic Art: The language of movement. (Studio Vista, 1968).
> [Frank Popper. Origins and development of Kinetic Art. (Studio Vista, 1968).
> (Six articles on Kinetics). Studio International, 180(926),
October 1970.]
> Kinetics. (Hayward Gallery / Arts Council, 1970).
> Frank Malina (Ed). Kinetic Art: Theory and practice, selections
from the journal Leonardo. (New York, Dover, 1974).
> Jim Jenkins & Dave Quick. Motion, motion: Kinetic Art. (Salt Lake
City, Utah, Gibbs Smith, 1989).
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