Lygia Clark Begins Her Bichos

Today, interactive work that involves full-body experience is normal, almost expected in contemporary art. But in 1960, participation and interaction were much more radical. A big step in the direction towards more interactive art in the coming decades was the Brazilian artist Lygia Clark's Bichos (Critters), sculptures.

The artworks consisted of flat metal plates joined by hinges that viewers were meant to handle and refold. Each Bicho has many possible configurations and none is considered final: the work is completed by the person moving it. They aren't just conceptually completing the work in the Duchampian sense; they are physically altering the work.

Clark had signed the Neo-Concrete Manifesto in Rio de Janeiro in 1959, which rejected the rigid rationalism of Concrete art for works that involved the body and its fluidity.