Creative Lab: Metamorphoses in Art

The opening block will introduce the notion of kinetic art and a selection of works by kinetic artists currently exhibited at Garage. The participants with learn some of the basic categories, such as “dynamic” and “static”. What does the movement of an object in space and time mean, and how is the illusion of movement in sculpture and painting created? Why do artists make pieces that are able to morph in front of the viewer, and what can engineers contribute to creative processes?

The participants will have the chance to master their artistic and construction skills through the execution of a kinetic sculpture that will later be used as an element of a larger installation.

The second session is devoted to the laws of optics. Garage educators will explain the mechanisms of human vision, the scientific nature of color, the fundamentals of color theory, and the main ways of producing optical illusions.

A visit to the exhibition The Other Trans-Atlantic will allow participants to learn more about particular op artworks, the use of color and geometrical ornaments for creating paintings and objects, as well as about the artists who have pushed forward the boundaries of the human eye’s color and image perception.

During the workshop, the tutors will offer a number of simple experiments explaining the nature of color, and will invite everyone to create an exploratory decorative piece in an op art technique, that will also be included in the final installation at the end of the course.

The third day will begin with a practical session exploring the laws of form making and the use of volume and space. Inspired by selected artworks from the exhibition The Other Trans-Atlantic, participants will learn how to create three-dimensional objects using a sheet of paper, add together several geometrical figures, and draw 3D objects on flat surfaces.

The workshop will concentrate on the qualities of forms and shapes, and their relationship with light and shadows in space.

Concluding the course, this session focuses on how scientific discoveries and technological progress have influenced the evolution of art throughout the twentieth century, and what kind of future kinetic artists visualized in their works. The tutors will demonstrate some of their utopian architectural projects, including designs of buildings and entire cities, currently on show at Garage.

The practical block will see the participants integrate the three pieces created during the previous sessions into one large-scale installation representing their vision of a futuristic city.