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

Kinetic art is a modern direction, first appeared in the twentieth century, when the creators of various spheres sought something new for themselves, and, ultimately, they found it. It manifested itself in plastic 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 name

How a word sounds is also important - that is why the definition of a new, previously unknown term can be learned not only by looking it up in the explanatory dictionary, but also by ascertaining the origin. In this case, the concept of "kinetic art" is closely related to the Greek word "kinetics" - "one that sets in motion." Immediately recall the section of physics "kinematics", which, as is known, also studies this process.

That's why kinetic art - compositions moving, volumetric, sculptural and / or architectural. It refers to the artistic avant-garde. For the first time, kinetic art was heard at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The origin of a new direction

In the twenties of the last century, Vladimir Evgrafovich Tatlin, the originator of kinetic art, is building a model of the Third International's tower.

In 1931, at that time, the little-known Alexander Calder created his first masterpiece from the famous wire structures, set in motion with the feasible help of the motor. Over time, his compositions grew to form a whole cycle of works of art under the general name of "mobili."

Both the domestic creator and the genius from another continent pursued one goal: to breathe new life into the sculpture, to say no to its static, to overcome the framework of traditions and to allow it to interact more with the environment. The movement was to become a connecting thread between the masterpiece and the world.

Establishment of new traditions

In the sixties of the twentieth century, the French painter and art theorist Nicolas Schaffer, as well as the Argentine artist Julio Le Park, finally established new rules and answered the question of what kinetic art is.

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

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

Spread

In the sixties, the spread of kinetic art reached its apogee. Approximately at this time the term denoting this direction, which is still in use, appeared. He immediately captured the minds of humanity from Europe to America. The kinetic art of the United States and Europe merged into one - the creators sought for similar goals, but at the same time it manifested itself in different ways.

Naum Gabo: the Russian-American avant-garde

Russian and American artist Naum Gabo has derived his own formula for life and art, identifying them among themselves. Their components, as well as the basis, the base on which they must be built, he called space and time.

Gabo did not aspire to complexity; His models, masterpiece compositions, were created from simple geometric forms. His "Virtual Forms" were extremely influential in modern kinetic art. Who would have thought that the oscillation of metal plates could bear such a profound meaning and express the power of the era!

Revitalization of matter

Masters of the twentieth century often used electric motors in order to revive frozen matter. But it was not the only method. Just as thanks to the scientific and technological revolution, physical processes have become not only an object of study, but also a means for achieving goals, this effect has not bypassed art. The geniuses of the whole world experimented with the flow of water, wind, the power of the earth.

Thus, Marcel Duchamp's marvelous rotating discs were received - a composition that captivates, and Jean Tangley recreated the creation of his mind in reality - the mechanisms are not only self-propelled, but also prone to self-destruction, while producing sounds - a kind of musical accompaniment. The author of the famous Stravinsky fountain collected them from the industrial scrap 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.

Searches never end

Kinetic art is a new stage, but in no way a point of reference, nor a point of destination. Bright light, it made the ideas play with new colors, inspiring feats. Representatives of kinetic art have firmly entered its history - from Rodchenko to Yukker. Searches in this area led to the fact that kinematism found its use not only in sculpture and architecture. Kinetic art in painting was called optical and gradually transformed into "op-art."

Visual illusions of op-art

Movement in painting manifested itself in this type of art - purely visual, at the subconscious level. After all, op-art is based on visual illusions - when people think that space and matter change. However, here again to achieve the necessary effect, the creators had to apply scientific knowledge - play on psychophysiological factors, make the viewer see exactly what they were planning. 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

The kinetic sculptors revitalized matter, the artists - space. Deepening it and painting all sorts of colors, they lead to some sort 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. Feeling akin to how you fall asleep, and you carry away in the most intimate dreams. That's what the visitors of the exhibition "Responsive Eye" from Egem, Demarko and others, who opened a new page in the history of painting, experienced in the sixty-fifth year of the last century.

The first works were performed in black and white tones - the masters only tried their hand at a new kind of art. After all, in the end, everything depends on kinematism - it breaks the boundaries. This is fascinating, but also frightening, that's why the artists stepped cautiously, mastering new techniques, impressing more and more. Now, op-art, on the contrary, is characterized by maximum bright, contrasting hues, hard mixing to achieve the desired effect.

Elements of dynamics in folklore

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

Objects and toys that were moved and produced by masters from the Arkhangelsk region are all the beginnings of Kineticism. He manifested itself in Russian culture to the fullest. More than once in this article, two extreme points were mentioned - America and the Soviet Union, from where many geniuses came from.

The development of kinetic art in the USSR

A real enlightener and master of his work was the group "Movement" - it was its participants, under the leadership of their leader, Lev Nusberg, who promoted (by apologizing for the tautology) kinetic art to the Soviet masses.

"Movement" was subjected to persecution, because so far the group has not received as much information as we would like. But, nevertheless, their name remained on the pages of the history of kinetism, and it is about them that they are remembered in the first place, speaking about how it was manifested in the USSR.

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

Despite the fact that the "Movement" clearly broke all the limits, they received state orders, for example, the design of Leningrad on the day of the October Revolution. The group made exhibition compositions, theatrical performances, circus and kinematic scenography.

Unfortunately, one more reason why little is known about the "Movement" is that there were often discrepancies in the group, and as a result, a new collective separated from it, and closer to the eighties the popularity of the trend began to subside.

Modern kinetic art

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

For this purpose, Kineticism works closely with op-art - the visual illusions of the latter are intensified by a changing glow and stereo sound effects.

That is, the kinetic art of the present time, we can say 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 entered the age of information technologies, social networks and the Internet, we need a new direction that would express the thinking principle of the modern generation. Nevertheless, the works of the kinetism of the great masters remained unknown in a narrow circle, and are popular in the wider. Anyone can learn more about mobile phones, and about Soto's elegant constructions, and about the embodiment of Schoffer's scale designs - all these things were created not just to attract attention, but were a mirror of a whole generation.