Conceptions of New Realism / Nouveau Realisme
In 1960 Pierre Restany created the idea and coined the term "Nouveau Réalisme" with Yves Klein during a group show in the Apollinaire gallery in Milan. It was an idea that united a group of French and Italian artists. Nouveau Realisme was the European answer to the American Neo-Dada of Fluxus and Pop Art. The group included Martial Raysse, Arman, Yves Klein, François Dufrêne, Raymond Hains, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely, Jacques Villeglé - and was later joined by César, Mimmo Rotella, Niki de Saint Phalle and Christo.
Restany defined this group of artists as sharing "new perceptual approaches to reality". The first exhibition of the "Nouveaux réalistes" took place in November 1960 at the Paris Festival d'avant-garde. Their work was an attempt at reassessing the concept of art and the artist in the context of 20th-century consumer society by reasserting humanistic ideals in the face of industrial expansion.
From 1963 onwards, Restany edited the art and architectural magazine Domus and divided his time between Montparnasse, Paris and Milan, Italy. In the early 1970s he took interest in the work of the Sociological art collective. In 1982 he co-founded Domus Academy, the first postgraduate design school. From the early 1990s up to his death, Restany took a keen and growing interest in artists working in the areas of computer art, new media art, digital art and the world wide web. In 1992, he was director of the group show Art & Tabac, in Rome, Vienna and Amsterdam.
Pierre Restany died in Paris in 2003 and is buried in the Montparnasse Cemetery.
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