Kinesthesia: Latin American Kinetic Art, 1954–1969
Kinesthesia: Latin American Kinetic Art, 1954–1969 will examine the influential and visually stunning work of South American kinetic artists. While Southern California was becoming the North American epicenter for Light and Space art in the 1960s, separate yet closely related technical experiments had been unfolding in a handful of major cities of South America, as well as in Paris, the European center for kinetic art. Kinesthesia will highlight the broad differences that emerged among the two principal South American centers of activity: Argentina, where kinetic art grew out of local debates about painting; and Venezuela, where pioneering notions of modern architecture stimulated a synthesis of art and design. Kinesthesia will tell this story through 50 works—primarily kinetic sculptures and sculptural installations—by Jesús Rafael Soto, Julio Le Parc, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Martha Boto, and others.
Exhibition research support: $170,000 (for Kinesthesia—to the Orange County Museum of Art, 2013); Implementation and publication support: $250,000 (2016)
Caption: Julio LeParc, Kinncchromatic Object, 1969/1986, metal, wood, motor, gears. Copyright by Abraham Palatnik.
Palm Springs Art Museum
Living Architecture: Lina Bo Bardi and Albert Frey
Living Architecture: Lina Bo Bardi and Albert Frey is an unprecedented exploration of two visionary architects who critically expanded the meaning and practice of modern architecture. Bo Bardi (1914–1992) emigrated from Italy to Brazil in 1946 and Frey (1903–1998) from Switzerland to the United States in 1930. Though the two did not meet, Bo Bardi translated Frey’s treatise Living Architecture for Domus, and their personal and professional odysseys are representative of the emergence of São Paulo and Southern California as architectural and cultural laboratories in the middle of the 20th century. They each created modernist houses, furniture, public buildings, and approaches to urban design that move beyond strict rationalism to embrace the social and environmental contexts specific to their adoptive homes in Brazil and Southern California. Bo Bardi and Frey shared a belief in architecture as a way to connect people, nature, building, and living. As they embraced modern technologies, they responded to the climate and terrain of the local environment and the people whose personal and social experiences were touched by those conditions.
Exhibition research support: $75,000 (2015); Implementation and publication support: $150,000 (2016)
Share with your friends: |
