Evan Webb, who died in Christchurch in May, was a major kinetic artist. Kinetic art, which explores the aesthetics of motion, has a long history, including many modernists such as Marcel Duchamp and Naum Gabo. It had an upsurge of popularity in the 1950s and ‘60s, a boom made possible by developments in technology. Museums initially welcomed it, but they soon backtracked because they disliked its tendency to break down and the need for engineering support. Only a few artists such as George Rickey, Jean Tinguely and Rebecca Horn continued to be regularly exhibited. Meanwhile, New Zealand saw kinetic artists such as Phil Dadson (b.1946), Andrew Drummond (b.1951) and Evan Webb. Our forerunner had of course been Len Lye (born Christchurch, 1901).
