Purple Art
[July 27 2015]
GRID[LESS] a group show at 171 Canal St, New York
“The grid is, above all, conceptual speculation.” – Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York.
For millennia, the grid—in which straight lines intersect consistently at right angles—has dictated our spatial relationships. We might add to Koolhaas: the grid, as conceptual speculation, has proven to be such a useful structure that it now pervades our physical and digital lives. It defines our urban topology, organizes our images, and orders our time. The grid is fundamentally an equalizer. Each city block consists of the same area as the blocks adjacent to it, creating a network ofarchitecture that cannot forgo its rigid Euclidean base. Google arranges its results so that an image of Picasso exists next to one of your pet. In our calendars, we format our days consistently, regardless of their relative importance. We cannot escape the ubiquity of the grid, for we walk and rewalk—we think and rethink—and we intentionally make or inadvertently remake the grid.
Text and photo Elise Gallant
