concept:era contemporary
Equivalent VIII
120 firebricks arranged in a rectangular configuration by Carl Andre, 1966 (re-acquired 1969). 12.7 × 68.6 × 229.2 cm. Tate Modern, London. Part of a series of eight Equivalents; its acquisition by the Tate in 1972 provoked the notorious 'bricks controversy' in the British press.
Scholarly Significance
Minimalism — Equivalent VIII is the most controversial work of the Minimalist movement in Britain; the 'bricks controversy' of 1976 is a landmark in public debates about the nature of art.
Notes
- ·Part of a series of eight works (Equivalent I–VIII), each using 120 firebricks arranged in different rectangular configurations but equivalent in quantity.
- ·The Tate purchased Equivalent VIII in 1972; when the purchase was publicly reported in 1976, the tabloid press (led by The Sunday Times) ran stories condemning the acquisition as a waste of public money.
- ·The 'bricks' controversy became the most significant British public debate about the nature of art and the role of public institutions in collecting contemporary work.
- ·The work was vandalised at the Tate in 1976 (blue paint thrown); the Tate cleaned and restored the bricks.
- ·Andre's flat-plane floor works — the 'Equivalents', steel plates, and tile works — are fundamental to the Minimalist project: sculpture as the manipulation of space rather than form.