Adventures of the Black Square: Abstract Art and Society 1915-2015

This book is devoted to the global development of geometric abstraction and includes the works of Carl Andre, David Batchelor, Dan Flavin, Andrea Fraser, Kazimir Malevich, Piet Mondrian, Gabriel Orozco, Helio Oiticica, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Rosemarie Trockel, Theo Van Doesburg, Zhao Yao, and Andrea Zittel. Exploring how the universal visual language of geometric abstraction relates to society and politics, this volume also demonstrates how the movement's revolutionary aesthetic continues to impact culture across the globe. It traces a century of abstract art from 1915 to the present day and includes sculpture, film, photography, and painting. Organized around four distinct themes--architectonics, communication, the everyday, and utopia--the book presents a chronological survey extending from Russia to Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Central America, South America, and the US. Each of the 100 works is featured in double-page spreads with brief artist biographies. Essays by Tanya Barson, Briony Fer, Tom McDonough, and Jiang Jiehong and introductory texts by the Curators contextualize the various geographic and aesthetic stages of the development of geometric abstraction.