'50/50 Floor' by Tauba Auerbach, 2008 (installation view); black…
'50/50 Floor' by Tauba Auerbach, 2008 (installation view); black and white tile
Courtesy C.E.B. Reas
' Process 7' by C.E.B. Reas, 2010 (detail); multimedia
Courtesy Marsha Cottrell
'Hypothetical Place 2' by Marsha Cottrell, 2002
Courtesy Marsha Cottrell
'A Black Powder Rains Down Gently On My Sleepless Night' by Mars…
'A Black Powder Rains Down Gently On My Sleepless Night' by Marsha Cottrell, 2012; iron oxide on mulberry paper
Thom Faulders
'Cluster Diagram' by Thom Faulders,2001; graphite and gesso on p…
'Cluster Diagram' by Thom Faulders,2001; graphite and gesso on paper
Daniel Libeskind
'Micromegas Studies' by Daniel Libeskind, 1978; graphite on pape…
'Micromegas Studies' by Daniel Libeskind, 1978; graphite on paper
Courtesy Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
'Homographies' by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, 2006; fluorescent lighti…
'Homographies' by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, 2006; fluorescent lightings, electronic components
Lebbeus Woods
'Conflict Space 3' by Lebbeus Woods, 2006; crayon and acrylic on…
'Conflict Space 3' by Lebbeus Woods, 2006; crayon and acrylic on linen
“Field conditions move from the one toward the many, from individuals to collectives, from objects to fields,” wrote Stan Allen, FAIA, in 1996. The essay helped move architectural discussion away from form and toward systems and networks. Sixteen years later, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art revisits Allen’s new perspective in Field Conditions, which gathers 30 works by artists and architects that explore the connection between conceptual art and theoretical architecture. Daniel Libeskind, AIA, and Lebbeus Woods, among others, share ways of describing space without buildings. And the artists—Sol LeWitt, Tauba Auerbach, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer—use architectural language to describe spatial conditions, says curator Joseph Becker. Allen is there, too, with one of the few pieces that gets close to a real building: a drawing of an array of algorithmically generated floor plans. • Through January 6, 2013.
Lindsey M. Roberts is a freelance writer outside of Seattle, specializing in interiors and design, and a former assistant managing editor at ARCHITECT. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, Gray, Preservation, and The Washington Post, for which she writes a monthly column about products for the home.
