Light and Space pioneer Robert Irwin first exhibited Prologue: x183 at the New York City location of the Dia Center for the Arts in 1998. He covered Dia’s windows with blue and gray gels and, using mesh scrims, divided an entire floor into 18 chambers illuminated by white fluorescent lights. When Irwin decided to wrap the lights with additional color gels, he changed the installation’s title to Excursus: Homage to the Square3, a reference to Josef Albers’s series of nested square paintings that explore color theory. This two-year-long exhibition at Dia:Beacon reconfigures Excursus: Homage to the Square3, allowing visitors to experience the mazelike installation anew.
Pictured: Robert Irwin: Excursus: Homage to the Square³; at Dia:Beacon Riggio Galleries. © Robert Irwin/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo Philipp Scholz Rittermann.
Note: This entry appears in the Museum Previews section of Art in America’s August issue, the 2015 Guide to Museums, Galleries and Artists.