1920s, notably through the Constructivists (Naum Gabo was the
first to use the word <em>kinetic</em> in relation to art) and
then through Alexander Calder and his mobiles in the 1930s. A
revival of kinetic art was to occur toward the middle of the
1950s. The exhibition "Le Mouvement" at the Galerie
Denise René Gallery in Paris in 1955 and then "Bewogen
Beweging" at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1961
contributed to the recognition of kinetic art. There are
different forms of kinetic art, including machines and mobiles,
as well as lumino-kinetic works involving light and movement. In
the broadest sense, certain works of Op art creating effects of
optical movement could also be considered kinetic art. Machines
with motors appeared around 1950. With works such as the Tour
spatiodynamique (Spatiodynamic tower, 1961),
Nicolas Schöffer was to integrate the discoveries of electronics
and cybernetics within structures appealing to multiple senses.
The poetics of the machine comes through in the playfully
eccentric works of Jean Tingueley and the slowness of those of
Pol Bury. Lumino-kinetic art underwent a revival around 1950,
notably with the Tableaux mobiles (Moving paintings)
of F. J. Malina. Schöffer developed walls of light, prisms, and
video circuits. Gyula Kocise, Martial Raysse, and Piotr Kowalski
used neon for their works. Exhibits such as
"Kunst-Licht-Kunst" at the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum in
Eindhoven in 1966 or "Lumière et mouvement" at the
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1967 helped to make
this current of kinetic art better known. The works of François
Morellet, Julio Le Parc, and Yaakov Agam revealed an art linking
light and the environment. The Museum of Modern Art's 1965
exhibition "The Responsive Eye" brought together the
main figures of what was to be called Op Art. Here, the movement
was virtual rather than real; based on physiological phenomena,
it was an outgrowth of experiments in painting at the beginning
of the century. Among the best-known artists in this area are
Victor Vasarely, Jésus-Raphaël Soto, Yaakov Agam, Carlos
Cruz-Diez, Nicolas Schöffer, and the members of the Paris-based
group known as GRAV (Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel,
1960-1968).