KINETIC ART

KINETIC ART

Kinetic art explores how things look when they move and refers mostly to sculptured works, made up of parts designed to be set in motion by an internal mechanism or an external stimulus, such as light or air. The movement is not virtual or illusory, but a real movement that might be created by a motor, water, wind or even a button pushed by the viewer. Over time, kinetic art developed in response to an increasingly technological culture. Kinetic art has its origins in the Dadaist and Constructivist movements that emerged in the 1910s. It flourished into a lively avant-garde following the landmark exhibition Le Mouvement at Galerie Denise Rene in Paris in 1955, after which it attracted a wide international following.The Kinetic art form was pioneered by Marcel Duchamp.

Marcel Duchamp

Duchamp’s work with kinetic art (a work that employs a moving part) and found objects resulted in other pieces that would cement his fame. A wheel mounted on a stool, Bicycle Wheel, hinted at the artist’s preoccupation with physics and mathematics. Duchamp also continued to write and organize important art exhibitions such as the International Surrealist Exhibition at the Gallerie des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1938. Duchamp became a U.S. citizen in 1955, but died in Paris in 1968. His work not only dramatically influenced the Dada and Surrealist movements, but Pop Art too. Some of his most famous works can be seen at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.