Moholy Nagy

The History of Kinetic Sculpture:

 

the history of kinetic sculpture:

The history of kinetic sculpture begins far back in the ages. The first application was perhaps the Greek hydro-clock. Later, in the middle ages, came the clock displays in town halls and the more complicated automata with moving, writing, and chess playing figures. As a step toward kinetic sculpture in our time one may single out toys, advertising signs, fountains, fireworks and the like. Recently the futurists have come forward as conscious propagandists of the "dynamic" as a principle of artistic creation. Boccioni presented the first "dynamic" sculpturesÑsuch as the dynamics of a bottle, a marching manÑin his book, "Pittura, scultura futurista (dinamismo plastico)". In 1912 he wrote:

"The futurists broke down the concept of repose, the staticÑand put forward that of movementÑthe dynamic. They showed the new grasp of space by bringing into contrast the inner and the outer."

Written as a challenge to the aims of the Russian constructivists, the "Realist Manifesto" of Gabo and Pevsner is of great interest. Here are excerpts from it:.

"Space and time are the two exclusive forms for fulfilment of life, and therefore art must be guided by these two basic forms if it is to encompass true life.

"To incorporate our experience of the world in the forms of space and time, this is the single goal of our creative art.

"We deny volume as a spatial form of expression: space can be measured as little by a volume as liquid with a measuring stick. For what else could space be beyond an impenetrable depth? Depth is the only form of expression in space.

"In sculpture we eliminate (physical) mass as a plastic element. Every engineer knows that the static power, and power of resistance of an object, do not depend on mass. One example will suffice: railway tracks. In spite of this fact, sculptors labor under the prejudice that mass and contour are indivisible.

"We free ourselves from the thousand-year-old error of art, originating in Egypt that only static rhythms can be its elements. We proclaim that for present-day perceptions the most important elements of art are the kinetic rhythms." In 1922 I published, in collaboration with Alfred Kemeny, a manifesto on "The Dynamic-Constructive System of Forces"

"Constructivism means the activation of space by means of a dynamic-constructive system of forces, that is, construction of forces within one another that are actually at tension in physical space, and their construction within space, also active as force(tensions).

"We must therefore put in the place of the static principle of classical art the dynamic principle of universal life. Stated practically: instead of static material construction(material and form relations) dynamic construction (vital constructivism and force relations) must be evolved in which the material is employed only as the carrier of forces.

"Carrying further the unit of construction, a dynamic constructive system of force is attained whereby man, heretofore merely receptive in his observation of works of art, experiences a heightening of his own faculties, and becomes himself an active partner to the forces unfolding themselves.

"The first projects looking toward the dynamic-constructive system of forces can be only experimental demonstration devices for the testing of connections between man, material, forces and space. Next comes the utilization of the experimental results for the creation of freely moving (free from mechanical and technical movement) works of art."

 

Moholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, ID Book, 1946, pp 237-238

Moholy Nagy 1940 Space Modulator (construction in plexiglass on a mirror plane).

Moholy Nagy 1940 Space Modulator with perforations and its virtual volume.