Nothing Less Than Literal: Architecture After Minimalism

By Mark Linder

In Nothing Less than Literal, Mark Linder shows how minimalist art of the 1960s wasinfiltrated by architecture, resulting in a reconfiguration of the disciplines of both art andarchitecture. Linder traces the exchange of concepts and techniques between architecture and artthrough a reading of the work of critics Clement Greenberg, Colin Rowe, Michael Fried, and theartist-writer Robert Smithson, and then locates a recuperation of "the architecture of minimalism"in the contemporary work of John Hejduk and Frank Gehry."Literal" was not only a term used by Friedto attack minimalism; it was a key term for Greenberg as well, and in both cases their use of thatterm coincides with discussions of the architectural qualities of art. Linder gives us the firstthorough examination of the role that architectural concepts, techniques of representation, andpractices played in the emergence of minimalism. Beginning with a comparison of the "postcubist"writings of Clement Greenberg and Colin Rowe, he reveals surprising affinities in their criticalformulations of pictorialism -- including the use by both of an analogy between cubist collage andarchitectural space. This is followed by an account of the sharp differences between Michael Friedand Robert Smithson; Linder contrasts the sublimation of space and refusal of architecture inFried's concept of the "radically abstract" with Smithson's explicit embrace of architecturalthinking and his complex concepts of space. Finally, Linder looks at particular instances in thework of two architects who, through collaboration with artists, engaged the legacy of literalism --John Hejduk's Wall House and Frank Gehry's decade-long fascination with the figure of the fish.Linder shows how the "productive impropriety" of transdisciplinary borrowing in the discoursessurrounding minimalism serves as a counterexample to the prevalent perception of "disciplines" asconservative and institutionalizing.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262122669
• ISBN13: 9780262122665
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Mit Pr
• Length: 282 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 22 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher