Responsive Vision: Getulio Alviani

The catalogue presents a comprehensive selection of Alviani’s most representative works, including his iconic series Superficie a testura vibratile (Vibrating Texture Surfaces), developed from the late 1950s onward, along with other major works exploring light, geometry, and perceptual experience. Through high-quality reproductions and exhibition installation photography, readers gain a deeper understanding of how Alviani employed minimal geometric structures and industrial materials to generate continuously shifting visual phenomena that change according to the viewer’s movement and variations in light.

This publication features four scholarly essays written by international curators and researchers, presented in catalogue form for the first time. Approaching Alviani’s practice from multiple perspectives, these texts examine his position within the contexts of Kinetic Art, Programmed Art, and Optical Art (Op Art), while also tracing his involvement in the European Nouvelle Tendance / New Tendency movement of the 1960s. By clarifying the conceptual foundations of his artistic methods and their dialogue with those of his contemporaries, these essays extend beyond the immediate exhibition experience and establish the catalogue as an important reference for the study of postwar European avant-garde art.

Getulio Alviani is widely recognized as a key figure in twentieth-century optical and perceptual art. His work was included in the landmark exhibition The Responsive Eye at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, in 1965, and is held in the collections of numerous major museums worldwide. Rather than depicting movement, Alviani’s art activates perception itself through precise control of material, surface structure, and light conditions, transforming the act of viewing into a dynamic experience. Through the interweaving of artworks, critical essays, and historical context, this catalogue clearly demonstrates how Alviani redefined the role of visual perception in art and exerted a lasting influence on subsequent developments in generative art, interactive practices, and visual research.

Within the context of contemporary practice, Getulio Alviani’s artistic approach transcends medium-specific categories, focusing instead on how acts of viewing are activated through light, structure, and movement, allowing visual phenomena to emerge through the viewer’s participation. This perception-centered framework resonates naturally with contemporary jewelry’s engagement with the body, space, and the experience of wearing. Through his investigation of metal surfaces, geometric rhythm, and visual response, Alviani offers an aesthetic and methodological reference that continues to inform contemporary jewelry and related creative practices.