ART-STA-MCC
This is some text inside of a div block.
Anthony McCall
Structural Atmospheres
light as volume
ART-STA-MCC
This is some text inside of a div block.
light as volume
Anthony McCall
ART-STA-MCC
light as volume
Index Code:
ART-STA-MCC
Orgin:
UK
Field Notes:
Slow evolving cones and planes of projection mark time through the movement of bodies passing through haze
Defining Moment:
The Line Describing a Cone works where a simple projected arc gradually builds a volumetric tunnel that redraws the room

Anthony McCall

( 
1946–
 )
an-thon-ee mc-call

McCall built a world where projected light becomes sculptural — beams forming inhabitable cones and planes.

His works turn time and visibility into architectural matter.

Position

Perception as Interface

The work activates through viewing conditions rather than fixed form. Movement, position, distance, or duration alters what is perceived. Vision becomes an interface rather than a passive act.

In Anthony McCall’s work, this approach appears where light and duration activate viewing itself as the work.
Spatial Reduction
Space is clarified through subtraction, compression, and restraint.
Systems of Clarity
Order and coherence arise through disciplined systems and constraints.
Atmosphere
Atmosphere accumulates through calibrated light, tone, and spatial pacing.
Gesture
Gesture functions as structure through disciplined, repeatable action.
Material
Material behavior governs form through weight, resistance, and constraint.
Art
Form operates as a site for material, perceptual, and conceptual inquiry.
Light and Space
Perception is shaped through light, volume, and environmental conditions.
Conceptual Art
Language, instruction, and proposition function as the work itself.
Image Credits
Hide Image Credits
Context

All images © their respective rights holders.  
Image rights & attribution →

Observartory

Robert Morris — Box and Beam Works
Structual Relations
The following practices are connected through shared structural decisions in form, material, and spatial logic.

By Structural Focus

ⓘ
How are these related?
Quiet Modernism relates practices through how form is organized rather than how it appears. Connections emerge through shared structural conditions — such as repetition, constraint, spatial organization, material behavior, or duration — even when outcomes differ.

A single grouping may reflect multiple overlapping structural concerns.
Helen Pashgian
Transparency as depth
De Wain Valentine
Light as mass

In Dialogue

Back to
The Atlas