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Carl Andre — Floor Pieces
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Measurement replaces composition
OBS-MEAS-CAN-01
Systemic Construction

Measurement replaces composition

Carl Andre — Floor Pieces

The work does not compose form.
It counts it.

Units repeat according to fixed dimension and placement.
Change occurs through accumulation, not variation.

Structure persists through equality.

What is counted?
Measurement is usually preparatory. Here it is final. Each unit holds the same weight. No element resolves the field. What continues is quantity as structure.

Measurement is usually a means toward composition.
Here it replaces it.

Andre’s floor works are organized entirely through unit equivalence.
Each element occupies the same dimensional and structural status.
No unit leads. No unit resolves.

The field is produced through placement alone.
Change occurs only through accumulation, not emphasis or variation.

What persists is quantity acting as structure —
form held together by count rather than composition.

Image Credits
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Installation view, Carl Andre, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, 2025. © 2025 Carl Andre / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo: Steven Probert.

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