- Title
- Untitled (Sin título)
- Date Made
- 1969
- Medium
- Aluminum, glass, metal, wood, light bulbs, electric motor
- Dimensions
- 55 × 14 15/16 × 14 15/16 in. (139.7 × 37.94 × 37.94 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2020.233
- Collecting Area
- Latin American Art
- Curatorial Notes
In his kinetic artworks, Gregorio Vardanega employed motors and electricity to explore the aesthetic possibilities of light in motion. With its mesmerizing rotating columns and pulsating lights, this work reflects his lifelong fascination with space and astronomy. He conceived of his towers in conversation with architecture, and imagined that they could be accompanied by music to create immersive installations.
Born in Italy, Vardanega moved to Buenos Aires as a child. By the mid-1950s, he was a central figure in the city’s avant-garde circles and a founding member of the groups Asociación Arte Nuevo (New Art Association) and Artistas No Figurativos Argentinos (Argentinian Non-Figurative Artists). His interests in abstraction and nonrepresentational art led to his innovations in kinetic art after traveling to Paris in 1948, where he met Denise René (1913–2012), a pioneering gallerist who promoted kinetic art internationally. A decade later, Vardanega returned to Paris permanently with his wife Martha Boto (1925–2004; M.2018.85), and the two became part of an international cohort of kinetic artists, including several from South America.
Rachel Kaplan
2024
