Len Lye: Experimental Moves

Len Lye: Experimental Moves

Together with materials from the Len Lye Foundation Archive we view Lye’s films and kinetic sculpture in the context of their production and reception, underscoring the 1950s and 1960s as an exciting time for Lye in his pursuit of an art of motion.

Len Lye ended the 1950s as an established and celebrated filmmaker, yet through the 1960s he was also a leading kinetic sculptor. Bringing together ‘scratch’ film, kinetic sculpture, and items from the artist’s archive, Experimental Moves revisits these pivotal years that saw Lye shift his focus from one medium to the other.

This progression was neither simple nor straightforward, rather we find it full of returns and revisions as Lye moved between the two. Light, colour, sound and music, as a continuation of the techniques of film, were all used by Lye to heighten the experience of movement in his sculpture. While each sculpture commands individual attention, Lye’s works are best appreciated when several are seen in succession. Their movements share an organic quality – they swirl, vibrate, shudder and sway.