New Tendencies

also: Nove tendencije

movement 1961-1973 Croatia Europe

New Tendencies (Nove tendencije) was a series of five international exhibitions staged in Zagreb between 1961 and 1973, and the network of artists around them. Initiated by critics and artists including Radoslav Putar, Matko Meštrović, Ivan Picelj, and Vjenceslav Richter, it continued the geometric program of the EXAT 51 group and became the key forum for post-informel experiment in Europe. The exhibitions moved fast: from the structure-and-surface investigations of 1961 to programmed and kinetic art by 1963, cybernetics and art in 1965, information theory and 'Computers & Visual Research' in 1968/69, and conceptual sections by 1973. In doing so New Tendencies turned Zagreb into an early capital of computer and generative art.

The Tribuna of the Uffizi (Zoffany)
The Tribuna of the Uffizi (Zoffany)Public domain (credit: Johann Zoffany) · source

Defining characteristics

  • Neo-constructivist geometry: flat planes, grids, and strict serial structures
  • Programmed and kinetic systems - works defined by rules, sequences, and motion
  • Visual perception itself treated as subject (optical, op-art effects)
  • Machine aesthetics: cybernetics, information theory, and early computer graphics
  • Reliefs and spatial constructions that use light to articulate form

Key figures

  • Ivan Picelj (1924-2011) — Painter, sculptor, and graphic designer; founding organizer of the Zagreb exhibitions
  • Vjenceslav Richter (1917-2002) — Architect-artist of neo-constructivist spatial systems and exhibition design
  • Julije Knifer (1924-2004) — Gorgona Group founder whose austere meander paintings epitomized its rigorous abstraction
  • Juraj Dobrović (1928-) — Maker of geometric reliefs and spatial constructions shaped by light

Example works

  • Meandar (Meander) — Julije Knifer (1961-1962)
  • Spatial Construction — Juraj Dobrović (1966)
  • Folded Square — Juraj Dobrović (1973)

Sources

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