144 Magnesium Square 1969 Carl Andre born 1935 Purchased 1973 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T01767

Carl Andre (b. 1935, USA)
144 Magnesium Square, 1969

I’ve seen a few of Andre’s works from this series in real life, but nothing in the galleries prompted me that I could walk over them… so most of the time I just read them as ‘something minimalistic’ or ‘celebration of materiality’. Possibility to walk over – that I eventually could read myself to – makes it significantly more interesting for me, as another, more unconventional mode of engagement. Even more interesting I find Rosenthal’s suggestion that here ‘the work of art frames the space’ (Rosenthal 2003, 64), kind of reversing the traditional relationship between the two. As I am exploring various aspects of framing, this is most relevant to consider.

Reference

Rosenthal, Mark. Understanding Installation Art. Munich/London/NY: Prestel.