Kinetic Art: The Leningrad Experience, the 1920s–1990s

Abstract

Kinetic works of Leningrad artists have never been studied as a separate topic. In 1965–1967, kinetic art broke into the Leningrad art scene with bright projects of a Moscow artist collective called “Dvizhenie” (“the Movement”). Soon, several young Leningrad artists became active members of the collective. At the beginning of the 1970s, the impulse given by the “Dvizhenie” led to the formation of an independent Leningrad art collective which worked on color music kinetic art performances but broke up short afterwards. Is it possible to talk about some kind of a separate Leningrad branch of kineticism? Leningrad artists whose works in the 1960s, the 1970s and later periods were related to the kinetic art perspective, and even explicitly aligned with it, did not identify themselves with kineticism. Even in the 2010s, no one talked about kineticism in connection with some exhibitions in Saint Petersburg which presented completely kinetic works of art. Today, in the wake of the growing interest in this movement in Russia in the context of recent exhibitions, the concept of kineticism has expanded to include new names. The article considers activities of Leningrad artists associated with this art movement in the field of theatrical kinetic performances (the “Dynamic” collective), three-dimensional counter-relief objects (L. Borisov), color light music and paintings visualizing music (V. Afanasyev), and architectural design / color light music projects (A. Lanin). The study also traces parallels between proto-kinetic works of Leningrad avant-garde of the 1910s–1920s, and works of Leningrad kinetic artists of the 1960s–1970s.