ART-RAS-MAR
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Walter De Maria
Systems of Clarity
Measurement at scale
ART-RAS-MAR
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Measurement at scale
Walter De Maria
ART-RAS-MAR
Measurement at scale
Index Code:
ART-RAS-MAR
Orgin:
United States
Field Notes:
measurement enforced · scale calibrated · repetition exact
Defining Moment:
Late 1960s — large-scale installations establish measurement and duration as structure.

Walter De Maria

( 
b. 1935 – d. 2013
 )
wal-ter duh ma-ree-ah

Walter De Maria builds a world where scale and measurement organize experience. Systems operate through repetition. Difference emerges through distance. Measurement holds as structure.

How does scale discipline perception here?
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Scale is traditionally regarded as measurement; in Walter De Maria’s work, it functions structurally to regulate perception through repetition and spacing. Distance, interval, and unit relationships enforce proportional order across expansive works. Patterns repeat and align systematically, producing structural hierarchy without reliance on image.

Position

Time as Material

Duration, aging, fading, accumulation, or delay is integral to the work. Form unfolds rather than presents itself immediately.

In Walter De Maria’s work, difference emerges through calibrated measurement operating across space and time.
Hard Systems
Form is governed by rigid rules, limits, and non-negotiable constraints.
Systems of Clarity
Order and coherence arise through disciplined systems and constraints.
Proportion
Proportion organizes coherence through measured intervals, scale, and relation.
Material
Material behavior governs form through weight, resistance, and constraint.
Art
Form operates as a site for material, perceptual, and conceptual inquiry.
Image Credits
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Context

All images © their respective rights holders.  
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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.
Tadao Ando
Material determining architectural form
James Turrell
Light as architecture

In Dialogue

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