Page 31 - Studio International - October 1970

Mack, by contrast, thinks that art must de- groups were able to take advantage of the
Kinetic art in.
materialize itself; and objects become im- general lack of information to distort the
Germany material most readily through the movement dates more or less as they pleased. The book
historical facts of priorities, influences and
of light. Harry Kramer, who has been more
fascinated with machines than any other Movens, brought out in 1960 by the concrete
Georg Jappe German kinetic artist, said in his manifesto : poet Franz Mon, which was taken very
`The belief that visual art is dependent on seriously at the time by people concerned with
technology is a fallacy.' the arts, is a clear example of the way in
A second reason was the decidedly provincial which the issues were confused by personal
climate that prevailed in Germany up to the axe-grinding; the same is true of a chronology
mid-1960s. In the disorientated post-war of kinetic art which, in spite of its strongly
years, intellectuals of every kind went in for subjective character, was later used as the
rigorous stylistic categories and for publicly source material for a number of 'definitive'
formulated programmes. Since then the catalogues—simply because there was no
individualists have asserted themselves—and other chronology.
in German culture that is always a sign of in- When one has seen two famous kinetic artists,
creased strength. But in those days kineticism in the course of one evening, progressively
was not seen as a programme in itself, but as antedating their own works in competition
one means among many in the struggle to with each other, one acquires a little caution:
[A MAJOR EXHIBITION, 'KINETICS-INTERNATIONAL cast off art informel, subjective, aesthetically though an eyewitness of one case, one cannot
SURVEY', ORGANISED BY THE ARTS COUNCIL, IS AT THE neutral abstract painting. If one reads the be everywhere. And looking over ten years'
HAYWARD GALLERY, LONDON, FROM SEPTEMBER 25 manifestos of that period, hardly more than a documentary material in even so narrowly
TO NOVEMBER 23.]
decade ago, the polemics denying the validity limited an area as German kinetic art, one
of abstract art look as dated and as remote as begins to wonder anxiously just how the
Harry Kramer Kandinsky's defence of it sixty years ago. twenty-first century is going to come to grips
Defense 58-24, 1958
Still from the film One is struck by the way in which small rival with a period like the present one, which is
`The best kinetic object is the motor car.'

Is there such a thing as kinetic art in Ger-
many? Not really. There are individual artists
but no movement; and there is a whole group
of artists who employ kineticism to add force
to their work. But there is no sign of an apo-
theosis either of the machine or of mechanical
programming. In a technologically advanced
country, this may seem surprising. But a
comparison with other countries reveals that
in fact the highly industrialized countries like
the United States, Great Britain and Germany
have made much less contribution to kineti-
cism than those countries in which traditional
culture and modern technology form a sharp
contrast (such as France, Italy and South
America), or in which a handicraft tradition
of intricate workmanship is still alive (as
with the Swiss clockmakers). In the case of
Germany there are other factors as well.
Technological art was formulated as early
as the Bauhaus, while the younger artists' first
experience of technology was in the war.
They wanted light, brilliance, freedom from
preordained formulae. This is clear from the
statements of those artists who first turned
their attention to kinetic principles. Thus
Piene, in one of his earliest texts, described
how, discharged from his anti-aircraft unit at
the end of the war, he came to the calm North
Sea and saw it shimmering before him; one is
reminded of Xenophon. The decisive experi-
ence for Mack came when he accidentally
trod on a piece of metal foil; he saw the light
vibrate, and experienced the revelation that
`Light lightens space'. His remark, 'Sometimes
I think that the motor-car is the best kinetic
object of all', reveals a profound scepticism
and at the same time a practical turn of mind.