Signals. Newsbulletin of the Centre for Advanced Creative Studies. Vol. 1, No. 2. (September 1964) - Signals. Newsbulletin of Signals London. Vol. 2, No. 11. (January / February / March 1966)

An extensive series of the issues of 'Signals Newsbulletin' issued between 1964 and 1966.

Issued bimonthly from 1964 to 1966 the 'Signals Newsbulletin' is a series of extraordinary monographic productions and an extraordinary document of the narrow focus of its founders' interests in Kinetic Art. Although intended as a general forum, each issue is focussed on a particular artist and the wider context and repercussions of their oeuvre. Many of the featured artists (see below) were introduced to a British audience first through the pages of 'Signals Newsbulletin'; the beautiful and meticulous production values ensure these documents a lasting importance in the development of London as an international forum for art.

The artists detailed predominantly in these seminal documents are the following: Takis (Panayiotis Vassilakis), Sergio de Camargo, Marcello Salvadori, Lygia Clark, Naum Gabo, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Jesús-Rafael Soto and Alejandro Otero.

'In early 1964 Paul Keeler, art critic Guy Brett and artists David Medalla, Gustav Metzger and Marcello Salvadori set up the Centre for Advanced Creative Study in the apartment that Medalla and Keeler were sharing in Cornwall Gardens, South Kensington. Its magazine, Signals Newsbulletin, first published in August of that year and edited by Medalla, was named after a series of tensile sculptures by the Greek artist Takis. Documenting exhibitions and art events, as well as including poetry and essays on science and technology, it was an important forum for the discussion of experimental art, with a special focus on Kinetic art. The group and the gallery became known as Signals London when they moved to a large four-storey building at the corner of Wigmore Street in central London. According to Medalla, Signals was ‘dedicated to the adventures of the modern spirit’, and during the two years it was open, it became an influential hub for experimental international artists. It set up a network of artistic exchange between different sites across Europe and Latin America, bringing to London artists including Takis, Sergio de Camargo, Lygia Clark, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Jesús Rafael Soto, Hélio Oiticica, Alejandro Otero, Mira Schendel and Li Yuan-chia.' (From the Tate catalogue).

The issues and their contents are as follows:

Vol. 1, No. 2 (September 1964) - atypically this issue is of a wider and more general nature to the remainder with articles by Frank Popper, Alejandro Otero, Sir John Rothenstein (a patron of Signals), a review of Documenta 3, various manifestos by Robin Page and Victor Musgrave and so on.

Vol. 1, No. 3 / 4 (October / November 1964) - Devoted to the artist Takis (Takis Vassilakis) after whose work 'Signals' the gallery and bulletin were named, with contributions by Alain Jouffroy, William Burroughs, poems inspired by Takis etc.

Vol. 1, No. 5 (December 1964 - January 1065) - Sergio de Camargo.

Vol. 1, No. 6 (February / March 1965) - Marcello Salvadori. Also with an appreciation by David Medalla of Lygia Clark.

Vol. 1, No. 7 (April / May 1965) - Lygia Clarke.

Vol. 1, No. 8 (June / July 1965) - Naum Gabo.

Vol. 1, No. 9 (August / September / October 1965) - Carlos Cruz-Diez.

Vol. 1, No. 10 (November / December 1965) - Jesús-Rafael Soto.

Vol. 2, No. 11 (January / February / March 1966) - Special Alejandro Otero issue.

[see Gwen Allen's 'Artists' Magazines. An Alternative Space for Art' pg. 296].