Groupe de Recheche d'Art Visuel

Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel (GRAV) described on page 199 in the textbook seemed to me like the Justice League of Visual Arts much like Ansel Adams founded the Justice League of Photography with f/64.  GRAV was founded in 1960 by Julio Le Parc, Francois Morellet, Horacio Garcia Rossi, Francisco Sobrino, Joel Stein, and Yvaral.  They mainly worked with mediums focused in light and movement, usually in the form of kinetic art.

Like Adams' f/64, GRAV abides to its own manifesto.  Some points in the manifesto are the "creation of a new visual relationship between the object and the eye of the beholder...in which the meaning and the intervention of the artist are kept to a minimum."  Their purpose is to "attract the attention of the viewer, making him free to loosen it."

Here are a few examples of GRAV works.

In each work of art GRAV asks the viewer to step out of his inhibitions and engages the viewer.  The viewer must interact with the art and not just be a spectator.  This is a common technique with today's artist but in the 1960's ir was revolutionary.