Nove tendencije the first New Tendencies exhibition opens at the Gallery for Contemporary Art, Zagreb

Dissatisfied with 1960 Venice Biennale, Brazilian artist Almir Mavignier and art critic Matko Meštrović sought to organize a new exhibition that showcased “new tendencies” in art not yet supported by the establishment. The exhibition was held at the Gallery for Contemporary Art, Zagreb. The New Tendencies movement was hugely important for the development of computer and digital art. Technology was central to the movement’s goals: “Many followers of the NT [New Tendencies] have tried to give their work the habit of the machine or else they have based their procedures on the use of mechanical or electrical devices; they have all dreamt of the machines—and now the machines have arrived,” said critic Radoslav Putar. Nove tendencije, the exhibition, featured work of Concrete Art that blurred the lines between painting and sculpture. GRAV member François Morellet’s work was described as “programmed painting.” Artists from the Zero Group also presented work in their Lumino-Kinetic style. These exhibitions and groups serve as the extension in the genealogy of generative art of the lumino-kinetic tradition, which leads ultimately later in the decade to the development of electronic art.