Robert Morris

Untitled (Scatter Piece) . 1968 – 69

Untitled (Scatter Piece), 1968-69 consists of 200 elements that Mr. Morris fabricated specifically for this work. 100 elements are made from six metals (zinc, copper, brass, steel, aluminum and lead) of different shapes and dimensions. As Jeffrey Weiss writes: “The sets are generated according to chance calculations originally determined by coin toss plus numbers randomly selected from the New York City telephone directory (although the system is inconsistently applied); these govern the length, width, thickness, and number of bends (0, 1, or 2) for each unit.” The other 100 pieces are felt cut so that each piece of felt corresponds to the shape and size of a counterpart in metal. The 200 elements are then ‘scattered’ on the floor, again, in a seeming random matter.
Leo Castelli