Great Mosque, Seville, Spain 1996

Editor: This is "Great Mosque, Seville, Spain" by Ben and Nikki Langlands and Bell. The monochromatic, almost ghostly, rendering of the mosque's floor plan is quite striking. What do you see in this piece from a formal perspective? Curator: The artists' reduction of the architectural plan to a subtle, almost invisible, relief focuses our attention on pure form. Notice the play of positive and negative space, the rigorous grid punctuated by subtle shifts in texture. How does this minimalist approach alter our perception of the mosque itself? Editor: It makes me consider the underlying structure more than the ornamentation, the bones rather than the flesh. I guess I hadn’t considered how much is communicated by the absence of color. Curator: Precisely. The absence becomes a presence, demanding a closer, more analytical viewing. The materiality, the subtle embossing, all speak to a refined formalism. The artists invite us to deconstruct the architectural space and examine its intrinsic properties. Editor: It’s like an x-ray of a building! Curator: An astute observation. The abstraction forces us to engage with the essence of architectural space, revealed through line and form. Editor: Thank you. I’ll never look at floor plans the same way again. Curator: Nor I. It is through such analysis of form that we discover new perspectives on familiar subjects.