The Concrete Utopia – Ivan Picelj and New Tendencies – 1961-1973

This exhibition and catalogue dedicated to Croatian artist Ivan Picelj provide a much needed closer look at the international neo-avantgardes of programmed art, taking a critically systematic approach to the investigation currently underway. Picelj was among the prime movers of the neo-concrete turn and one of the most active figures in what has been called the last avant-garde, where he can be numbered among the most “orthodox” exponents; he played a fundamental role in the ranks of the nove tendencije [New Tendencies] that emerged in Zagreb in 1961, when the movement’s first exhibition was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art, bringing together an extraordinary group of artists and critics from around the world who are now unchallenged figures in the international debate and in the art market: from groups like ZERO, GRAV, Gruppo N and Gruppo T, to individual pioneers of a radical artistic rebirth blending “continuity and innovation,” such as Piero Manzoni, Enrico Castellani, Getulio Alviani and Paolo Scheggi.