Page 30 - Studio International - July/August 1967

Above ment. One of the most remarkable exponents of slow the collective nature of certain offerings.
Sobrino movement, Hans Haacke, has achieved (since 1963) The great campaign of our age against the static,
Transformation in stable 271962 almost imperceptible transformations in his Plexiglass durable object, against the object which is entrusted with
Transparent plexiglass
31½ x 31½ x 8¼ in. surfaces by making use of the irregular condensation of the mission of capturing a certain moment in human
Galerie Denise René, Paris deposits of water under the action of heat and light. creativity for posterity, is also reflected in those mani-
Working on the same lines he has just created a bar of festations which for almost eight years now have been
Above right refrigerated copper which captures humidity from the held side by side with traditional exhibitions on both
Pistoletto in front of one of
his works of 1966 atmosphere and swells as the weeks pass until one day the sides of the Atlantic. In 1960 Alan Kaprow suggested the
electricity is switched off and in an instant the work is rejection of any idea of permanence and the use of 'mani-
reduced to nothing. In this way he captures the notion festly perishable media such as newspaper, string, ad-
of fragility in the most concrete possible manner. hesive paper, grass at the height of its growth or real
In 1953 Agam laid the foundations for effective, manual foodstuffs' so that 'no-one can overlook the fact that the
intervention by the spectator in the process of destruction work of art will soon be transformed into dust and dung'.
of static form. The purpose of his 'transformable works' In March of the same year, Tinguely paid his homage to
and then his 'tactile compositions' (the elements of which New York by reducing to ashes a vast sculpture which
vibrate under the touch of a hand) was to prove that a he had composed. At the same time Metzger developed
surface is infinitely variable. The younger generation of his self-destructive works. A few months ago the Levines
the GRAV group takes over the same principle but exhibited 'throw-away' works (3 dollars each) at the
moves the emphasis from the work and its possible trans- Fishbach Gallery. The idea of art which disappears
formations to the actual gesture of the spectator, thus within a short space of time is gaining ground. The work
creating a kind of 'social kineticism', the main object of of art is becoming transformed into a Happening which
which is to involve the public and enable the spectator to exists for a precisely defined space of time and disappears
play a dominant part in the dialogue with the work of leaving no trace behind. If for financial reasons he must
art. The object is to obtain the active participation of the choose between a Happening by Rauschenberg or a
individual who is meant to feel an awareness of personal sculpture by the same artist, an avant-garde art gallery
intervention and choice which he is too often denied in curator will decide on the Happening if he thinks that
modern society. In the last resort the 'artistic' object is this manifestation will have a greater impact on the
simply an insignificant pretext for a gesture which carries public over a short space of time than the sculpture
the entire meaning of the manifestation. We might quote might have over a period of years. For men like Vasarely,
as an example the football set up by the GRAV group at the artist would be wrong to put his faith in the ability
the Biennale des Jeunes in 1965, which spectators were of his works to ensure the perpetuation of his thought, for
invited to strike with their hands. Without the least however solid his works may be and whatever the material
plastic value and shorn of all formal significance, this from which they are composed, they can only be ephe-
football bore witness to the indifference of the members meral; even Sumerian granite cannot last for ever. It is
of the GRAV group to the 'aesthetic message' of the far more important to rely on the mental influence which a
artist and the claims of his products to have perennial work may have—through approval or reaction against
significance; this indifference is heightened still further by it—on the general public and on other creative men. It is