Jesús Rafael Soto and The GRAV
As the Participacion movement began to roll on with more and more speed, the desire to implicate the public into the involvement of the art form grew even more. The question still burned as brightly as ever though: How do you get people involved in your work? The question bugged Venezuelan Artist Jesús Rafael Soto, so he went to Paris, as many of our Latin American Artists did at the time. In Paris, he met many like-minded individuals and, while meeting at the Hungarian studio of Victor Vasarely, formed The GRAV (Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel). Where one man can do, a group can do more, and the GRAV sought to accomplish many great things. At first, they created mobiles and interactive art. People were reluctant to touch, even when signs placed exclaimed “Not participating is forbidden!”. The GRAV’s next logical step was to force participation, in a Maze. Their Labyrinth in 1964 was expansive, but it was still in a gallery. Who goes to galleries? The intellectual, the Elite. The common man does not, he stays in the public, the streets.
The GRAV brought this artwork to the people in 1966 with A Day in the City. A massively scaled trip for those who participated, A Day in the City offered over 12 hours of coordinated, planned events for the average man and woman to participate in. Starting with Chatlet at 8:00 AM, their Reflecto-van made quite the scene as The GRAV handed out small toys to the busy people exiting subways and entering cars. From there, you would experience wobbly bricks, a maze of colors, glasses that changed your perspective, and so on. Their quest to get people involved in their work, to transcend the form of art from gallery to experience, was aided by their willingness to educate the masses about the truth of their art, and to spread a bit of joy.