Page 49 - The 70s - ABC of the material

Ann and Martien de Voigt next to Enlargement ↔ Reduction (1976)
Photo collage exposition Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (1981)

Causes and Consequences

How cause and consequence are determined by a sequence of decisions. Expansion arises through
contraction and contraction arises through expansion.

The starting point is a rectangular canvas cloth 1.50m high and 7.50m wide.
Placing a fold in the rectangle causes two diagonals to arise that meet in the top left corner and diverge
in the bottom right corner.
The underlying diagonal, caused by the fold, runs from corner to corner.
The overlying diagonal runs from the top left corner to 7.5cm above the bottom right corner. The inside
of the fold in the bottom corner comprises 10% of the height of the rectangle, that thereby changes
into a trapezium with a narrow side of 1.35m and a wide side of 1.50m.
The trapezium with diagonals caused by a fold is divided into fives.
Five trapeziums arise that are converted from right to left into five squares while the diagonals remain
unaltered.
The first square, the smallest, has diagonals containing the greatest area of the fold and due to this the
largest gap between itself and the following square.
The gradual decrease in the area contained by the fold determines the measure by which the gaps
between the squares decrease and, in addition, the measure by which the size of the squares grow.
The dimensions of the squares are respectively 1.35m, 1.38m, 1.41m, 1.44m and 1.47m while the
gaps are respectively 15cm, 12cm, 9cm, 6cm and 3cm.
Due to this a contradictory movement of expansion and contraction arises.

Filling in the five squares with black oil pastel causes the underlying diagonal to appear as a black
impression and the overlying fold as a white line.

text Coosje van Bruggen - Maria van Elk: drawing 1973 - 1980, page 43

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