Systems in Art

August 31 - December 16, 2011
Wilbur Room

Presented on the occasion of IBM's centennial anniversary, this exhibition explores the subject of systems in art - from simple to complex. Since ancient times, artists and artisans have used systems to establish parameters for their work, to explore spatial relationships, create patterns and grids for technical purposes, and to invent new grammars and rationalities. This exhibition will explore these systems and others through objects from different cultures and time periods from the Fleming's collection and local private collections.

The exhibition includes examples of work by Joseph Albers, Wassily Kandinsky, Frank Stella, Chuck Close, Sol Lewitt, Dennis Oppenheim, Nancy Dwyer, and William Davison, among others. Many of these artists were influenced by perceptual psychology, information theory, algorithms, and fractal patterns that were developed in the 1960s and 1970s. This period witnessed an explosion of new technologies, among them, IBM's development of the SP-95 chip, the world's first Integrated Circuit Memory, which introduced semiconductor memory technology to the world. The SP-95 chip is represented here in a commissioned tapestry designed on a Jacquard loom, whose original system of using punched cards to control a sequence of operations was enormously influential for the founding of IBM and the development of computers.

Students from Sheila Weaver's Honors College course, Math in the Arts, participated in this exhibition through researching and writing selected object labels. We would like to thank them, and also to extend our thanks to William Davison, Professor Emeritus, Department of Art, for consulting on this exhibition. Organized by the Fleming Museum, this exhibition was made possible by generous support from the Kalkin Family Exhibitions Endowment Fund, IBM, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Deverse, and Mr. Paul Castrucci.

Free Admission for the Opening Reception and on Wednesdays throughout the Fall 2011 season at the Fleming Museum of Art. Provided through the generous sponsorship of the IBM Corporation.

IMAGE (above right): Robert Indiana, Eternal Hexagon 6 Eternal Hexagon, from Ten Works x Ten Painters, 1964. Screenprint in colors. 17 1/2 x 16 1/8 in. From the edition of 500, published by the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, framed.