| Artist | |
|---|---|
| Culture | German |
| Date | 1971 |
| Object type | sculpture |
| Medium, technique | glass, metal, motor |
| Dimensions | 45 × 45 × 17 cm |
| Inventory number | 78.3.U |
| Collection | Department of Art after 1800 |
| On view | This artwork is not on display |
Members of the ZERO group from Düsseldorf (Mack was a co-founder in 1957) were critical of the abstract expressionist movement that stressed the materiality and individualism of art, and they found a new aesthetic in the use of pure light as an autonomous artistic medium, and in the communal function that can be expressed with it. Mack conducted experiments with countless different techniques. He produced large, kinetic, environmental artworks that examined the physical laws of light, public sculptures constructed from prismatic mirrors, and paintings of dynamic structures. He produced several multiples of his Light Rotor, in a number of different versions. When making his bas-reliefs of oscillating light, he ensured that the corrugated disc behind the ribbed glass sheet would rotate at the perfect speed to ensure that the two patterns came together with a rippling effect and split the light in just the right way. Due to the optical illusion generated from the interference between the two shapes, the circular inner disc seems to be an ellipse in constant motion.
Geskó, Judit, “Les statues récemment acquises de la collection du XXe siècle du Musée des Beaux-Arts/A Szépművészeti Múzeum XX. századi gyűjteményének legújabb szobrai”, Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts/Szépművészeti Múzeum Közleményei 54 (1980), p. 79-87, 137-141.
Múzeumi Kalauz: Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai, Szépművészeti Múzeum – Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, Budapest, 2018, p. 266.
This record is subject to revision due to ongoing research.
