Part 4. Theoretical Issues

Increasing consideration is given today to the early kinetic works of the ZERO founders Otto Piene (1928–2014), Heinz Mack (b. 1931), and Günther Uecker (b. 1930). But is this hype a stroke of luck or misfortune for the preservation of their works? Through three case studies, this paper analyzes the influence of growing public interest on the preservation and presentation of kinetic artworks by examining the following aspects in more detail: (1) a changing evaluation of work components; (2) rediscovery and value enhancement; and (3) influences of exhibitions.

In the 1960s, kineticism attracted a wide audience, and exhibitions of kinetic art drew large crowds, apparently fulfilling the most ambitious objective of the avant-garde: to integrate art and life. Some kinetic objects were made in series: the idea of multiples was at the core of these artists’ strategies of “demystifying” art objects by avoiding the uniqueness fetish. The idea of an industrial production of kinetic multiples made it possible to imagine the extension to a wider audience of the optically destabilizing effects of the visual artifacts. This paper analyzes kinetic multiples as an artistic production that discovered its limits and contradictions amid arguments about culture, standardization, and consumption around 1968.

The collection of Nicolas Schöffer’s works is composed of cybernetic art that interacts aesthetically with its environment. This paper investigates the transition of these artworks from the artist’s studio to the museum from the perspective of the conservator’s twofold role. The first considers relationships with the rights holder for the transmission of the artist’s intent and “studio knowledge.” The second concerns practical challenges for the preservation of Schöffer’s works. This is a complex exercise of transmission that includes collaboration with the different stakeholders, and the conservator’s role in this process is critical to the continued existence of these artworks in their new environment.

The New Zealand–born American artist Len Lye (1901–1980) is recognized as a pioneer for his experimental films and his “Tangible Motion Sculpture.” More than thirty-five years after his death, Lye’s artistic legacy is increasingly dependent upon the Len Lye Foundation to reconstruct and realize his sculptural works, particularly the engineering of larger-scale iterations of extant models. In this paper, curators Paul Brobbel and Simon Rees discuss the making of Lye’s sculpture in the twenty-first century and the exhibition of Lye’s work at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre in New Plymouth, New Zealand.