Buckminster Fuller (1895- 1983) was an American inventor, philosopher, futurist, cartographer and designer, who was proclaimed to be “the oracle of the new, 21st century reality”. He was a prophet of technical development, which in his view should proceed to the benefit of all the Earth’s citizens.
During his lifetime, he patented more than 28 inventions, including the famous “geode- sic dome”, a building whose hemispherical construction, based on a network of repeated polygons, ensures incredible durability, stability and economy of production. Together with Kenneth Snelson, he invented “tensegrity” – a constructional system which uses the balance between the tension and compression of its component parts.
Aiming towards the general well-being of mankind, an improvement in living conditions, and the development of civilization, Fuller often resorted to innovative transgressions, which is emphasized when one looks at his overall scientific output. His work is marked by a profound synergy of various scientific disciplines and philosophies. The range and complexity of his undertakings is clearly seen in the example of his artistic activities. Fuller himself was many times named as a “Synergetic Artist”.
In the exhibition, we presented “Complex of Jitterbugs” – an original object made by Fuller in 1976. It is a structure of synchronized coupled octahedrons, which rotate, changing the shape of the entire complex object. According to Fuller, the pulsation of the jitterbug illustrates the flow of energy in space.
During the exhibition, the viewers also had a chance to become familiar with some of the most important inventions of Fuller’s design, compiled in the famous portfolio “Inventions: Twelve Around One”, prepared by Fuller himself in 1981, that is, only a few years before his death.
The exhibition of Buckminster Fuller’s inventions was combined with a presentation of installations and video works by French artist Loris Greaud (born 1979). By synchronizing these two individual exhibitions, we wished to create a platform for the meeting of two artists. This meeting could help us to interpret problems vital for both artists from new perspectives and to think of art in the context of scientific inventions, noticing how the domains of scientific thought and artistic creation merge.
The second half of the 20th brought about numerous examples of how art can inspire science and how science can inspire art. New technologies endowed artists with new “tools” previously absent from the traditionally defined “artist’s workshop”. This, in turn, gave new depth to artistic explorations. The domain of art interpretation underwent a linguistic and philosophical refinement. What we are observing right now as a result of these changes is an ongoing merger of disciplines, which brings to mind the famous phenomenon of “synergism” – the modus operandi of Buckminster Fuller’s work (and, as a matter of fact, a concept and a word of his very own creation). This approach finds its continuation in the 21st century in the work of Loris Greaud.
