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598 / Variable Piece #70 : 1971 (In Process) Global 1975

1975
Not on view
Previously a Minimalist sculptor, Huebler in the late 1960s renounced the making of discrete objects, saying that “the world is more or less full of objects, more or less interesting. I do not wish to add any more. I prefer, simply, to state the existence of things in terms of time and place.” He then pioneered a radical new use of photography—anti-subjective, sequential, and not in the service of aesthetic perfect moments but rather a form of representation, like language, to be interrogated. His deadpan photographs were a new kind of “dematerialized” artwork, used in tandem with other forms of documentation such as maps, diagrams, and text. This work is part of a series predicated on the (fictive) premise of photographing “everyone alive.”

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: 598 / Variable Piece #70 : 1971 (In Process) Global 1975
  • Artist: Douglas Huebler (American, 1924–1997)
  • Date: 1975
  • Medium: Gelatin silver prints and typescript
  • Dimensions: Frame: 94 × 94 cm (37 × 37 in.), each
    Overall: 94 x 188 cm (37 x 74 in.)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Vital Projects Fund Inc. Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, and Stephen and Jennifer Rich Gift, 2012
  • Object Number: 2012.32a, b
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

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Location Piece #2, New York City - Seattle, Washington
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Duration Piece #11, Bradford, Massachusetts, Douglas Huebler American, Gelatin silver prints and text
Duration Piece #11, Bradford, Massachusetts
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