“Art and architecture—all the arts—do not have to exist in isolation”

—Donald Judd

Donald Judd’s Untitled (Wall Project) finds complexity in the simplicity of its design. Composed of two Plexiglas sheets displayed within separate rectangular recesses in a wall, the work engages in dialogue with its surrounding environment. The architecture in which the piece is situated is rendered a necessary component of the work, allowing it to exist beyond the confinements of its simplified form and color. Judd was drawn to industrial materials, due to the inherent malleability and anonymity. These untainted sheets allow for clarity and simplicity, aligning with the artist’s motivations to break free from the confinements of conventional painting and sculpture. Inherently collaborative, the creative process of Untitled (Wall Project) is complete once the owner follows Judd's instructions on how to install it in their own space.

Judd’s Untitled (Wall Project) is part of the Wall Works series, launched in the early 1990s by Edition Schellman to investigate the symbiotic relationship between art and architecture. Conceived from Jörg Schellman's interest in architectural installations and the potential for realizing them as editions, the project invited artists to envision site-specific artworks that could create dynamic dialogues with a variety of environments. The resulting artworks, produced in small editions of around twelve to fifteen from artists including Mona Hatoum, Damien Hirst, Kara Walker and Andy Warhol, are diverse and encompass a wide range of media. Each Wall Work is accompanied with installation instructions specified by the artist, allowing the artwork to be installed in a variety of locations. Fusing art and architecture, the dynamic nature of these works unfolds in response to the characteristics of their environment, as unique relationships and meanings are created with each iteration. 

 “Installation in architecture had become an important issue both in theory and artistic practice. Edition Schellmann was trying to develop an idea as to how the concept of installation in a given architectural space could be realized as an edition. The result was the Wall Works project. It celebrates the basic idea of architecture being the ‘mother, the synthesis of the arts’. From the cave drawing on, in the development of the work of art, it has been an integral part of architecture.”

 —Jörg Schellmann