Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01163 byguest on 01 October 2021

pioneers and pathbreakers 194 ABSTRACT LEONARDO, Vol. 52, No.2,pp.194–195, 2019 Stedelijk Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, multisensorial creations, in1998. inBoulogne-Billancourt , Science,TechnologyArt, in 1966; the the 1966; in the werethey important. and science context, and art in the general within what they significance meant and particular why of were events these why explain to as well as case, each in was idea curatorial leading the what describe to try shall I 1998. to 1966 from organize, to helped or organized, I that exhibitions six to myself refer shall I manifestations, collective in artists dia In order to recall the origins of the participation of new me- in theseexhibitionscreated. community, withintheartistic ramifications, particularly thattheworks chroniclestheaestheticandsocietal working inthisarea.Thisarticle aswellotherartists the perceptionsofbothspectatorart tofollow—theychallenged theoretical foundationfornewmediaart and in1998,didmorethanjustlayaformal in Boulogne-Billancourt show oftheCityParis;andVirtualArt Art Museum ofModern Environments intheStreetsofParisandItsSuburbsElectraat and theater oftheMaisondelaCultureinGrenoble;Interventions Ville deParis;Cinétisme,Spectacle,Environnemen t, heldattheMobile dela Moderne Lumière etMouvementexhibitionattheMuséed’Art KunstLichtKunst attheStedelijkVan AbbeMuseuminEindhoven;the andtechnology.art presentedattheseexhibitions: Theworksofart integrateandalterthecollectivedestiniesofscience, that sawartists organized, orhelpedorganize,sixexhibitionsthroughoutEurope From thelate1960suntilendoftwentiethcentury, theauthor in 1983; and the the and 1983; in ItsSuburbs, Electraand1970;1969 the in exhibition Parisin Interventions and Environments in the Streets of Paris and in showGrenoblein 1968;manifestationin the of numbera of 1967; with thisissue. See www.mitpressjournals.org/toc/leon/52/2 forsupplementalfilesassociated Frank Popper (writer). Email: [email protected]. The first exhibitionThe here,I discuss These six exhibitions or manifestations were as follows: follows: as were manifestations or exhibitions six These KunstLichtKunstNetherlands,Eindhoven,at exhibition Cinétisme, Spectacle, Environnement Spectacle, Cinétisme, F 1966–1998 Exhibitions Six A R Lumière et Mouvement et Lumière o P k n Art Virtual P P show, with its interactive and and interactive its with show, e r exhibition in Paris in in Paris in exhibition KunstLichtKunstat the and a theatrical theatrical a and to start with a historical room with works of such pioneers such of works with room historical a with start to was There success. public enormous with approach matic, the a as well as historical, a account into took that show between the participants, the result was an extremely varied elementsthetic were discussed. a period of several months, in which both technical and aes- collective meetings of the artists and curators concerned for weekly ofnumber elaborateda collectively,of meansby i.e. ever, I made it a condition that these works were admitted or necessarily an element of light artificial incorporated. How - tolivingartists Francein works whose were but kinetic had title, I thought it interesting to propose an exhibition limited of Harald experience the Szeemann’s exhibition sameof the would be useful. My own idea was quite ambitious. Based on art and that my advice on a planned exhibition on the subject museum that I had just finished my doctoralthesis onkinetic about because someone had mentioned to the curators of the at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1967, came groupsartistic field. inthe latestinnovations technical the by well-known orlesser-known see to specifically pond the across come to death) his to the Eindhoven exhibition via the United States just before and electric light pioneer such as Thomas Wilfred (who came vices. Exhibitions like this allowed, for example, an electrical de technical modern and historical between comparisons effects structures andvirtual screens on and diaphragms. introduced that technical devices created variable luminous immaterial. On the other hand, the Italian T group of Milan tain three different qualities of light: energetic, expansive and Group, Zero obexample,for- to employedmeans technical ety of luminous effectsperceived bythe public. The German groups utilized different techniques in order to obtain a vari- phenomenonbygroupsaction of collective These ofartists. contemporary artists but also the recent development of the Its main idea was not only the modern use of artificial light by was conceived by its director Jean Leering and myself in 1966. Although this concept caused oftenviolent disagreements The next exhibition,the andexchange original an allowed exhibition this fact, In doi:10.1162/LEON_a_01163 Lumière et Mouvement exhibition ©2019 ISAST - - of kinetic art as Man Ray. The next room showed kinetic relations between art and science but also the artists’ need to light works that resembled or could be assimilated to the express their attitudes toward technology, and especially the category of paintings, then appeared sculptures, then rooms latest developments in this field. with apparently architectural and environmental works and In fact, the principal aim of Electra was to show how the

finally a collective proposal by the Groupe de Recherche artistic imagination had coped with the different phases and pioneers and pathbreakers d’Art Visuel requiring the public’s physical and intellectual aspects of the introduction of electricity and electronics into participation. This laid the foundation for an event of par- the pattern of life in the twentieth century. At the same time, ticular significance for the public appraisal of contemporary this exhibition was an occasion for a demonstration of the art exhibitions. whole range and development of the new technological me- My exhibition Cinétisme, Spectacle, Environnement, held at dia utilized by the artists, running from electrophotography the Mobile theater of the Maison de la Culture de Grenoble in to video art and the digital image. May and June 1968, was based on a theme that corresponded As to the exhibition entitled Virtual Art, held at Boulogne- to the architecture of the Maison de la Culture but also re- Billancourt’s Landowski Centre in 1998, it was organized by flected an important aspect of the evolution of kinetic art. me in coordination with a representative of the mayor of From the beginning, two attitudes toward kinetic art were the city. The main idea was to show, in a variety of works, possible. One put the accent onto the relationship between multisensoriality and the capacity to act as objects of inter- art, science and technology, whereas the second was mainly activity with the spectator. Technically speaking, one could concerned with problems regarding the of the distinguish five different areas in which the artists exercised works of art. Personally, I was convinced that this kind of themselves: video technology, the laser, holography and com- art was necessarily connected with technique and finally also munication art, including telematics, interactive networks with technology, but I was also certain that kinetic art had such as the Internet and satellite art. at its roots a basic relationship with perception, not only in If the central ideas that governed these six exhibitions were regard to the works but also that of the active participation of closely connected with the art, science, technology relation- the users and spectators. This observation regarding the rela- ship, they also gave artists the first opportunity to show to tionship between perception and technique was particularly the greater public works reflecting this context. As a matter true as regards the behavior of the public in this exhibition, of fact, it is not a coincidence that many written contributions especially in front of the mobile theatrical elements. published by Leonardo in the same period were concerned The manifestation or competition entitled Interventions with similar subjects. and Environments in the Streets of Paris and in Its Suburbs in 1969 was organized by the Center of Contemporary Art Manuscript received 13 July 2015. with my assistance. The main idea was to give examples of the transformation of urban sites by artists using new technolo- Born in 1918 in , Frank Popper has lived in Vienna, gies. Thus Piotr Kowalski won the first prize by imagining London, Rome and Paris (since 1955). He studied at the Uni- an illumination of Paris’s Place du Châtelet with powerful versities of London and Rome and Paris’s Sorbonne. In 1962, he searchlights, Carlos Cruz-Diez installed several colorfully lit- became a member of the Institut d’Esthetique in Paris. In 1969, up cabins into which the spectator could enter at the Place de he joined the founders of the Art Department of the University l’Odéon on the left bank in Paris and Lily Greenham trans- of Paris VIII at Vincennes, where he headed the Visual formed bushes in a public garden at Montreuil in the Paris Department from 1970 to 1983. In 1976, he was appointed pro- suburbs with the aid of incorporated electric devices. fessor of aesthetics and the science of art, and in 1985 became The exhibition Electra, at the Museum of Modern Art of professor emeritus at the same university. Popper is a member the City of Paris in 1983, was conceived by me and installed by of the International Association of Art Critics and honorary Marie-Odile Briot and Sylvain Lecombre, Jean-Louis Bois- editor of Leonardo. His book From Technological to Virtual sier, Edmond Couchot and others. It showed in particular the Art was published by MIT Press in 2007.

Popper, Art, Science, Technology 195

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01163 by guest on 01 October 2021 CALL FOR PAPERS

STEAM Initiative on Education: Leonardo Special Section

Guest Co-Editors: Tracie Costantino (RISD) and Robert Root-Bernstein (Michigan State University)

The STEAM movement, focused on integrating arts (broadly encompassing visual and performing arts, crafts and design) into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education is well underway. We are avid advocates of this movement but worry that integration of arts and sciences into curricula from K–12 through graduate and professional education is not supported by sufficiently rigorous pedagogical studies. If STEAM is to succeed, it must be underpinned by pedagogical principles, methods and materials of high quality and reliability. Toward that end, the Editors of Leonardo have decided to create a STEAM Initiative on Education that will devote a section of the journal to innovative, inspiring and important studies of STEAM pedagogies.

In the spirit of interdisciplinarity, we explicitly welcome diverse methodologies such as mixed methods designs and novel assessment methods designed to meet the special needs of STEAM educators. We particularly welcome studies employing well-designed, randomized classroom controls and utilizing well-validated learning measurement standards, but Leonardo recognizes that one of the challenges of STEAM integration is that it may require new approaches to teaching and learning. We therefore welcome articles that are focused on the development and testing of novel approaches and methods for purveying and evaluating integrated learning.

Manuscript Submissions We are seeking manuscripts up to 2,500 words. See leonardo.info/authors-journals for detailed instructions.

To submit a paper, upload the manuscript and art at editorialexpress.com/Leonardo.

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01163 by guest on 01 October 2021