Rational Concepts 1977

Curator: This is "Rational Concepts" by Malcolm Hughes. Editor: It feels like a deconstructed blueprint, cold and precise. Curator: Hughes, born in 1920, worked with geometric abstraction; this piece embodies post-war British art's engagement with constructivism. Editor: But who gets to decide what is rational? The clean lines feel clinical, almost sterile in their detachment. It makes me question whose concepts are being valued. Curator: Geometric abstraction provided a visual language aligned with science, technology, and the utopian ideals prevalent at the time. It reflected a societal leaning. Editor: I see those utopian aspirations, but through today's lens, it looks more like exclusionary planning. Curator: Hughes's exploration of structure is a product of its historical moment. Editor: Perhaps. It makes one think about rationality as a social construct, not as an objective truth. Curator: Indeed, food for thought on the public role of art and politics.