Franz Erhard Walther - First Work Set

Comprising fifty-eight fabric elements—what the artist has termed “instruments for process”—this multipart sculpture, which began in 1963 in Düsseldorf and was completed in 1969 in New York City, is Franz Erhard Walther’s most ambitious work. This publication will retrace Walther’s use of malleable materials and ephemeral “actions” as the basis for his sculptures, his understanding of the role of language, and the continued presence of drawing as integral to his conception of space. The book is a unique project grown out of the inclusion of this major work in Dia’s collection in the exhibition Franz Erhard Walther: Work as Action, presented at Dia: Beacon from October 2, 2010 to February 15, 2012. As with Walther’s similar works, First Work Set’s individual fabric elements are activated by visitors in a series of quotidian actions such as folding, dropping, leaning and measuring, that often entail cooperation among a couple or a group. For decades, museum exhibitions of this work have placed folded archival versions of the fabric elements in vitrines, preventing viewers from receiving the direct, performative encounter originally intended by the artist. For this exhibition at Dia: Beacon, Dia worked collaboratively with Walther to select a number of the original fabric elements available to be directly handled and performed by visitors. During the exhibition, Dia held a colloquium event inviting leading scholars to not only take advantage of the opportunity to experience the work firsthand in this way, but to present new thinking on Walther’s oeuvre