thumb|right|[[Naum Gabo, Kinetic Construction, also titled Standing Wave (1919–20)]]

thumb|right|[[Jean Tinguely, Eos (1965)]]

thumb|right|[[George Rickey, Four Squares in Square Arrangement (1969), terrace of the New National Gallery, Berlin, Rickey is considered a kinetic sculptor]]

Kinetic art is art from any medium that contains movement perceivable by the viewer or that depends on motion for its effects. Canvas paintings that extend the viewer's perspective of the artwork and incorporate multidimensional movement are the earliest examples of kinetic art. More pertinently speaking, kinetic art is a term that today most often refers to three-dimensional sculptures and figures such as mobiles that move naturally or are machine operated (see e.g. videos on this page of works of George Rickey and Uli Aschenborn). The moving parts are generally powered by wind, a motor or the observer. Kinetic art encompasses a wide variety of overlapping techniques and styles.

There is also a portion of kinetic art that includes virtual movement, or rather movement perceived from only certain angles or sections of the work. This term also clashes frequently with the term "apparent movement", which many people use when referring to an artwork whose movement is created by motors, machines, or electrically powered systems. Both apparent and virtual movement are styles of kinetic art that only recently have been argued as styles of op art. The amount of overlap between kinetic and op art is not significant enough for artists and art historians to consider merging the two styles under one umbrella term, but there are distinctions that have yet to be made.

"Kinetic art" as a moniker developed from a number of sources. Kinetic art has its origins in the late 19th century impressionist artists such as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Édouard Manet who originally experimented with accentuating the movement of human figures on canvas. This triumvirate of impressionist painters all sought to create art that was more lifelike than their contemporaries. Degas’ dancer and racehorse portraits are examples of what he believed to be "photographic realism". During the late 19th century artists such as Degas felt the need to challenge the movement toward photography with vivid, cadenced landscapes and portraits.

By the early 1900s, certain artists grew closer and closer to ascribing their art to dynamic motion. Naum Gabo, one of the two artists attributed to naming this style, wrote frequently about his work as examples of "kinetic rhythm". He felt that his moving sculpture Kinetic Construction (also dubbed Standing Wave, 1919–1920) was the first of its kind in the 20th century. From the 1920s until the 1960s, the style of kinetic art was reshaped by a number of other artists who experimented with mobiles and new forms of sculpture.

Origins and early development

The strides made by artists to "lift the figures and scenery off the page and prove undeniably that art is not rigid" (Calder, 1954) never obscured his objective of creating moving art. In his 1860 piece Jeunes Spartiates s'exerçant à la lutte, he capitalizes on the classic impressionist nudes but expands on the overall concept. He places them in a flat landscape and gives them dramatic gestures, and for him this pointed to a new theme of "youth in movement".

One of his most revolutionary works, L’Orchestre de l’Opéra (1868) interprets forms of definite movement and gives them multidimensional movement beyond the flatness of the canvas. He positions the orchestra directly in the viewer's space, while the dancers completely fill the background. Degas is alluding to the Impressionist style of combining movement, but almost redefines it in a way that was seldom seen in the late 1800s. In the 1870s, Degas continues this trend through his love of one-shot motion horse races in such works as Voiture aux Courses (1872).

It wasn't until 1884 with Chevaux de Course that his attempt at creating dynamic art came to fruition. This work is part of a series of horse races and polo matches wherein the figures are well integrated into the landscape. The horses and their owners are depicted as if caught in a moment of intense deliberation, and then trotting away casually in other frames. The impressionist and overall artistic community were very impressed with this series, but were also shocked when they realized he based this series on actual photographs. Degas was not fazed by the criticisms of his integration of photography, and it actually inspired Monet to rely on similar technology.

Claude Monet

thumb|right|[[Claude Monet, The Studio Boat (Le Bateau-atelier) (1876)]]

Degas and Monet's style was very similar in one way: both of them based their artistic interpretation on a direct "retinal impression"

Auguste Rodin

Auguste Rodin at first was very impressed by Monet's 'vibrating works' and Degas' unique understanding of spatial relationships. As an artist and an author of art reviews, Rodin published multiple works supporting this style. He claimed that Monet and Degas' work created the illusion "that art captures life through good modeling and movement". With the support of artists such as Albert Gleizes, other avant-garde artists such as Jackson Pollock and Max Bill felt as if they had found new inspiration to discover oddities that became the focus of kinetic art.

Albert Gleizes

Gleizes was considered the ideal philosopher of the late 19th century and early 20th century arts in Europe, and more specifically France. His theories and treatises from 1912 on cubism gave him a renowned reputation in any artistic discussion. This reputation is what allowed him to act with considerable influence when supporting the plastic style or the rhythmic movement of art in the 1910s and 1920s. Gleizes published a theory on movement, which further articulated his theories on the psychological, artistic uses of movement in conjunction with the mentality that arises when considering movement. Gleizes asserted repeatedly in his publications that human creation implies the total renunciation of external sensation.

Vladimir Tatlin

Russian artist and founder-member of the Russian Constructivism movement Vladimir Tatlin is considered by many artists and art historians to be the first person to ever complete a mobile sculpture. The term mobile wasn't coined until Rodchenko's time, but is very applicable to Tatlin's work. His mobile is a series of suspended reliefs that only need a wall or a pedestal, and it would forever stay suspended. This early mobile, Contre-Reliefs Libérés Dans L'espace (1915) is judged as an incomplete work. It was a rhythm, much similar to the rhythmic styles of Pollock, that relied on the mathematical interlocking of planes that created a work freely suspended in air.

Tatlin's Tower or the project for the 'Monument to the Third International' (1919–20), was a design for a monumental kinetic architecture building that was never built. It was planned to be erected in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, as the headquarters and monument of the Comintern (the Third International).

Tatlin never felt that his art was an object or a product that needed a clear beginning or a clear end. He felt above anything that his work was an evolving process. Many artists whom he befriended considered the mobile truly complete in 1936, but he disagreed vehemently.

Alexander Rodchenko

thumb|right|upright|Alexander Rodchenko Dance. An Objectless Composition, 1915

Russian artist Alexander Rodchenko, Tatlin's friend and peer who insisted his work was complete, continued the study of suspended mobiles and created what he deemed to be "non-objectivism". In this piece, Calder allows the cat's head and its tail to be subject to random motion, but its body is stationary. Calder did not start the trend in suspended mobiles, but he was the artist that became recognized for his apparent originality in mobile construction.

One of his earliest suspended mobiles, McCausland Mobile (1933), is different from many other contemporary mobiles simply because of the shapes of the two objects. Most mobile artists such as Rodchenko and Tatlin would never have thought to use such shapes because they didn't seem malleable or even remotely aerodynamic.

Despite the fact that Calder did not divulge most of the methods he used when creating his work, he admitted that he used mathematical relationships to make them. He only said that he created a balanced mobile by using direct variation proportions of weight and distance. Calder's formulas changed with every new mobile he made, so other artists could never precisely imitate the work.

Virtual movement

By the 1940s, new styles of mobiles, as well as many types of sculpture and paintings, incorporated the control of the spectator. Artists such as Calder, Tatlin, and Rodchenko produced more art through the 1960s, but they were also competing against other artists who appealed to different audiences. When artists such as Victor Vasarely developed a number of the first features of virtual movement in their art, kinetic art faced heavy criticism. This criticism lingered for years until the 1960s, when kinetic art was in a dormant period.

Materials and electricity

Vasarely created many works that were considered to be interactive in the 1940s. One of his works Gordes/Cristal (1946) is a series of cubic figures that are also electrically powered. When he first showed these figures at fairs and art exhibitions, he invited people up to the cubic shapes to press the switch and start the color and light show. Virtual movement is a style of kinetic art that can be associated with mobiles, but from this style of movement there are two more specific distinctions of kinetic art.

Apparent movement and op art

Apparent movement is a term ascribed to kinetic art that evolved only in the 1950s. Art historians believed that any type of kinetic art that was mobile independent of the viewer has apparent movement. This style includes works that range from Pollock's drip technique all the way to Tatlin's first mobile. By the 1960s, other art historians developed the phrase "op art" to refer to optical illusions and all optically stimulating art that was on canvas or stationary. This phrase often clashes with certain aspects of kinetic art that include mobiles that are generally stationary.

In 1955, for the exhibition Mouvements at the Denise René gallery in Paris, Victor Vasarely and Pontus Hulten promoted in their "Yellow manifesto" some new kinetic expressions based on optical and luminous phenomenon as well as painting illusionism. The expression "kinetic art" in this modern form first appeared at the Museum für Gestaltung of Zürich in 1960, and found its major developments in the 1960s. In most European countries, it generally included the form of optical art that mainly makes use of optical illusions, such as op art, represented by Bridget Riley, as well as art based on movement represented by Yacov Agam, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Jesús Rafael Soto, Gregorio Vardanega, Martha Boto or Nicolas Schöffer. From 1961 to 1968, GRAV (Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel) founded by François Morellet, Julio Le Parc, Francisco Sobrino, Horacio Garcia Rossi, Yvaral, Joël Stein and Vera Molnár was a collective group of opto-kinetic artists. According to its 1963 manifesto, GRAV appealed to the direct participation of the public with an influence on its behavior, notably through the use of interactive labyrinths.

Contemporary work

In November 2013, the MIT Museum opened 5000 Moving Parts, an exhibition of kinetic art, featuring the work of Arthur Ganson, Anne Lilly, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, John Douglas Powers, and Takis. The exhibition inaugurates a "year of kinetic art" at the Museum, featuring special programming related to the artform.

Neo-kinetic art has been popular in China where you can find interactive kinetic sculptures in many public places, including Wuhu International Sculpture Park and in Beijing.

Changi Airport, Singapore has a curated collection of artworks including large-scale kinetic installations by international artists ART+COM and Christian Moeller.

thumb|center|The [[Fire and Water Fountain, an art installation in Tel Aviv, by Yaacov Agam, Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv, Israel 1986. Example of both op art and kinetic art.]]

Selected works

<gallery widths="180" heights="180">

File:Whirligig.jpg|Lyman Whitaker, The Twister Star Huge, a whirligig sculpture

File:Soto Sphere.jpg|Jesús Raphael Soto, La Esfera, Caracas, Venezuela

File:David Ascalon Kinetic Sculpture Mobile memphis TN.JPG|David Ascalon, Wings to the Heavens, 2008. Fabricated and brazed aluminum and stainless steel cable, Temple Israel, Memphis, Tennessee

File:The Bucket Fountain, Wellington.jpg|The Bucket Fountain, Wellington, NZ

File:Irish Wave at Park West in Dublin.jpg|Wave, Park West, Angela Conner

File:Nicolas Schoeffer Chronos 10B 1980 Europaeisches Patentamt Muenchen-1.jpg|Nicolas Schoeffer Chronos 10B, 1980, Munich

File:Yaacov Agam sheba.jpg|Yaacov Agam, Sheba Medical Center, Israel

File:Sonnenschreiber.jpg|Marc van den Broek, Sun Writer, 1986, Germany

File:Halo Central Park Sydney - August 2015.JPG|Turpin + Crawford Studio, 'Halo', Sydney, Australia

File:ART Uli Aschenborn Boy To Man Sculpture-Morph 2 AUTORUN.gif|Uli Aschenborn, turning Sculpture-Morph its shadow shows the Male Life Cycle, Namibia

File:Uli Aschenborn - Dice showing 1 2 or 3 pips - AUTORUN 2.gif|Uli Aschenborn, if the onlooker passes this ‘chameleon-painting’ Magic Dice it shows 1, 2 or 3 pips and its colour changes - sand and paint, Namibia

File:Archimedean Excogitation.jpg|George Rhoads, Archimedean Excogitation (1987), a rolling ball sculpture, Museum of Science, Boston, United States

</gallery>

Selected kinetic sculptors

  • Yaacov Agam
  • Uli Aschenborn
  • David Ascalon
  • Fletcher Benton
  • Mark Bischof
  • Daniel Buren
  • Alexander Calder
  • Gregorio Vardanega
  • Martha Boto
  • U-Ram Choe
  • Angela Conner
  • Carlos Cruz-Diez
  • Marcel Duchamp
  • Lin Emery
  • Rowland Emett
  • Ivana Franke
  • Arthur Ganson
  • Nemo Gould
  • Gerhard von Graevenitz
  • Bruce Gray
  • Ralfonso Gschwend
  • Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
  • Chuck Hoberman
  • Anthony Howe
  • Irma Hünerfauth
  • Tim Hunkin
  • Theo Jansen
  • Ned Kahn
  • Roger Katan
  • Starr Kempf
  • Frederick Kiesler
  • Viacheslav Koleichuk
  • Gyula Kosice
  • Paul Kuniholm
  • Gilles Larrain
  • Julio Le Parc
  • Liliane Lijn
  • Len Lye
  • Sal Maccarone
  • Heinz Mack
  • Phyllis Mark
  • László Moholy-Nagy
  • Alejandro Otero
  • Robert Perless
  • Otto Piene
  • George Rickey
  • Ken Rinaldo
  • Barton Rubenstein
  • Nicolas Schöffer
  • Eusebio Sempere
  • Jesús Rafael Soto
  • Mark di Suvero
  • Takis
  • Jean Tinguely
  • Wen-Ying Tsai
  • Marc van den Broek
  • Panayiotis Vassilakis
  • Willem van Weeghel
  • Lyman Whitaker
  • Ludwig Wilding

Selected kinetic op artists

  • Nadir Afonso
  • Getulio Alviani
  • Marina Apollonio
  • Carlos Cruz-Díez
  • Milan Dobeš
  • Ronald Mallory
  • Youri Messen-Jaschin
  • Vera Molnár
  • Abraham Palatnik
  • Bridget Riley
  • Eusebio Sempere
  • Grazia Varisco
  • Victor Vasarely
  • Jean-Pierre Yvaral
  • Romano Rizzato

See also

<!-- please keep alphabetical -->

  • Gas sculpture
  • Lumino kinetic art
  • Odonien
  • Robotic art
  • Sound art
  • Sound installation

<!-- please keep alphabetical -->

References

Further reading

  • Kinetic Art Organization (KAO) – Largest International Kinetic Art Organisation (Kinetic Art film and book library, KAO Museum planned)

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