1000 mm 881 mm 864 mm 1974

Curator: This piece, created in 1974, is a work by Stanley Brouwn. The title itself is "1000 mm 881 mm 864 mm", which if you haven't guessed, refers to its dimensions. The piece combines found objects and is classified as mixed-media or installation art. What are your first thoughts? Editor: Huh, bureaucratic paperwork's ghost? It gives off such an office vibe. That gray is just so…standard. The exposed paper hints at unfinished business, you know? An unsettling quiet. Curator: Precisely! Brouwn frequently used measurement and distance in his work as a comment on the ways we perceive and codify space. He consistently questions standardized systems. The cold, utilitarian nature is central to understanding Brouwn's wider body of work, because that’s really how our world functions. Editor: I feel a disconnect. The visible lack of human presence contrasted against the possibility of constant activity usually around those types of materials really emphasizes our estrangement from daily tasks. What a sad feeling! Like, this very scene would elicit very different emotions pre- and post- pandemic, I wonder. Curator: The dimension as the title does point to Brouwn’s attempt to move away from subjectivity, though. He removes his emotional connection, almost stripping bare the relationship, to get to the "true" core elements of its relationship with other existing items. Editor: Yet there is still a level of inherent subjectivity isn't it? How else do we approach his work? Why is the size in the title so emphasized, despite that it means very little out of a context of the objects to which those measurements could be relevant. Maybe Stanley's not as far removed from human feeling as you suggest! Curator: I see your point. His very act of measuring and re-presenting forces it back. This minimalist installation offers many intriguing layers for audiences to discover how something extremely clinical on the surface, evokes such discomfort about space and place. Editor: Yes, absolutely. Now I am thinking of how our perceptions of common items carry unspoken feelings depending on specific social contexts. Anyway, this makes one ruminate! Thank you for pointing out Brouwn's focus on measurement; it reshaped my vision.