Sol LeWitt

Sol LeWitt is an icon of contemporary art. In the sixties, with his spatial structures he contributed to sculpture in a way that changed the understanding of artistic work, and thus became one of the founders of both Minimal and Concept Art. The reduction of forms and contents of his work, as well as the principal critique of its material character and the process of creation, are in the tradition of constructivism of the 20th century. With impressive consistency he developed abstract sculpture into minimalist concepts.

Like no other artist of his generation, he thus gave an important impetus for the idea of the work of art as a concept. In this way the classical concept of authorship was finally revoked, thereby opening up a new field of possibilities for artistic interventions and manifestations. For Sol LeWitt, minimalism and concept do not mean a reduction of possibilities, but an endless variation of forms and images in the true sense of the word. 
For the Kunsthaus he places himself at the beginning of a discourse with space and its perception. In abstraction according to Mondrian, aspects of the construction of images and illusion are addressed whilst, in minimalism, abstraction is concrete materialism. The object is perceived 1:1 in its physical existence, any significance is denied and tautology made the principle. In this clearly defined space, the beholder becomes the active subject, and it is this very space that becomes the metric for maneuver. 
Here is where our interest in Sol LeWitt’s work sets in. The large-format stone sculpture, the artist’s designs for Space 01 in the Kunsthaus, surveys the room and subjects it to a perceptive experiment. 
The visitor experiences the massive wall as both built architecture, demarcation between inside and outside, and as minimalist sculpture and tactile object. 
For Sol LeWitt the word perception has the meaning of the apprehension of the sense data, the objective understanding of the idea and simultaneously a subjective interpretation of both.

Biography 
Sol LeWitt (*Hartford, CT, USA,1928) has had over 400 one-person exhibitions, and is represented in the collections of major museums worldwide. He has been the subject of retrospective exhibitions at among others, The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Tate Gallery, London, The Kunsthalle Bern; and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Another major retrospective organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in February 2000 traveled to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, July, 2000 and to the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York in December, 2000.

Exhibition catalogue 
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue with illustrations of the sculpture in the space and texts by Peter Pakesch (Director of the Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz), Martin Prinzhorn (Professor of linguistics, University of Vienna), Marco De Michelis (Professor of architecture, University of Venice) and Paul Horwich (Professor of philosophy of science, Cornell University, New York)
Published by Walther König, Köln. ISBN 3-88375-810-8, € 29.90

Programme:

Wed., March 10, and Sat. April 24, 2004, 3-5 p.m.
Stone upon Stone
Supporting programme for the exhibition Sol LeWitt: Wall
for young guests between age 6-9
in the series Adventure:Museum
Sol LeWitt, important American artist of Minimal Art has built a 70 meter long 'wall' at Kunsthaus Graz. It will invite children and teenagers to create high and low, round and pointed walls out of varied building materials, as little architects. A meandering wall in a round room – we offer our young guests a new feeling for space, surrounded by the American artist’s monumental work.
Adventure:Museum is a series of the most variedand exciting art communication activities the Landesmuseum Joanneum can offer around the exhibits at its various locations.
We kindly request advance notice
kunstvermittlung@kunsthausgraz.at
T **43-316/8017 9200

16.03.2004 , Space01
Das Unheimliche in der Architektur
Lecture by Anthony Vidler and Lynne Cook

Tue, 23.03.2004, Space01/Randzone
Wall Concert
Concert by Alvin Lucier 
Framework of the exhibition Sol LeWitt: Wall
In the context of the exhibition, there will be a concert in the spatial sculpture with the internationally renowned composer, musician and sound artist for New Music, Alvin Lucier.
Alvin Lucier composes a work specially for Sol LeWitt’s sculptural work, that surveys the newly created space by means of sound.

Supported by 
A1, Zumtobel Staff, Ytong