The Next Layer - New Tendencies

(Lecture) NEW TENDENCIES (1961-1973) - PROGRAMMED ART AS FUTURE GENERATOR

admin — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 08:23:11 +0000

In a two stop lecture tour I will be talking about New Tendencies in Zagreb on December 6th and in Ljubljana on December 7th. Here I share the abstract for the Ljubljana talk and links to the event websites.

François Morellet, 3 Double Grids 0°, 30°, 60° (1960-61)

Armin Medosch — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 07:34:56 +0000

This picture was created by François Morellet by rotating grids at the angles given in the title. The artist defined a method which was then carried out strictly, without subjective interference. Morellet experimented for a lengthy period using graphite pencil on paper, before he arrived at results which were realised on bigger scale. One observer described the visual effect, when looking at the image for a while, as 'like watching the night sky' in a cloudless night.

by the artist

The Chicken as Visual Researcher

Armin Medosch — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 06:08:28 +0000

Pfister's hen is wearing prism's to deviate light. The experiment set out to find if the chicken, like humans, is able to correct an upside down world. It is. However, as a friend asked, is that a good or a bad sign, or can the chicken be considered smarter if it does it more quickly than us humans? Animals were used extensively in experimental research on the physiology of perception. In the literature from the 1950s and 1960s which I have been consulting those animals are always treated as 'things', as soulless non-entities. Yet maybe some animals showed some enthusiasm for the tasks.

by the artist

Art as Visual Research (Lecture notes)

Armin Medosch — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 18:10:45 +0000

This text is written in preparation for two upcoming talks and highlights a few aspects of my PhD thesis-in-progress "Automation, Cybernation and the Art of New Tendencies (1961-1973)". New Tendencies were one of the first postwar movements in art to focus on visual research as a way of redefining the role of art in society.