Francisco Sobrino

(1932–2014)
Francisco Sobrino was a Spanish pioneer of kinetic and optical art. In 1960, in Paris, he co-founded the Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV) alongside Julio Le Parc, François Morellet, Yvaral, Joel Stein, and Horacio García Rossi. GRAV sought to democratise art, emphasising the viewer’s role as an active participant. From 1961 onwards, Sobrino focused on three-dimensional constructions in modular, transparent plexiglass, where overlapping shapes shift and fragment according to the viewer’s position. This constant interplay of form and perception redefined interactive art for a generation.