New Tendencies (The Movement)

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The names “New Tendencies” or “Nove Tendencije” (and later “Tendencies” resp. “Tendencije”) stand not for a single exhibition but for a series of exhibitions, symposia and publications, and an international art movement. The New Tendencies’ exhibitions and other events took place during the years from 1961 to 1978. The movement was based in Zagreb and operated with the support of the Galerija suvremene umjetnosti (Gallery of Contemporary Art, today the Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb), Zagreb. Through their events and publications the New Tendencies “inspired openness towards accepting the computer as an artistic tool”. [Rosen, 2011]

The New Tendencies started in 1961 with exhibitions and events on Concrete and Constructivist art, Op art, and Kinetic art. Their main interest was the development of the idea of “art as visual research”. Artist and theorists came together in a movement that sought to oppose the ideal of sacral or aristocratic art that mystified the artist as a genius. The members of the New Tendencies movement wanted to get away from the Abstract Expressionism and Tachism and their aesthetic ideals and methods. Many members of the New Tendencies movement explicitly “referred to their artistic work as ‘research’ thereby not just indicating a working method, but rather the complete reorganization of artistic practice with respect to the market and the public.” [Rosen, 2011]

In 1968 the New Tendencies, in order to update their program, decided to incorporate a new topic to their activities and to organize a series of exhibitions, symposia, and publications under the title of “Computers and Visual Research”. These activities constituted the Tendencies 4 (Tendencije 4) exhibition which took place during 1968 and 1969. “Tendencies 4: Computers and Visual Research” embraced the idea of the computer as a medium for artistic creation. Bringing together artists, theorists and scientist from different countries and backgrounds, this event offered a space for discussions and artistic practices that influenced greatly the history of computer-based art.

New Tendencies Exhibitions:

1961 New Tendencies

1963 New Tendencies 2

1965 New Tendency 3

1968-1969 Tendencies 4

Tendencies 4 (1968), Computers and Visual Research

Tendencies 4 (1969), Retrospective of NT 1 – NT3 and Recent Examples of Visual Research

Tendencies 4 (1969), Computers and Visual Research

1973 Tendencies 5

Tendencies 5 Section: Computer Visual Research

New Tendencies Colloquia and Symposia:

1962 Meeting of the Nouvelle Tendance (New Tendency)