Curated by Jens Hoffmann
Hailed as a founding moment of Minimalism, the exhibition “Primary Structures,” organized by Kynaston McShine at the Jewish Museum in 1966, stressed the importance of seeing things as presented rather than as made. Less remembered is its subtitle, “Younger American and British Sculptors,” which suggested that Minimalism was a distinctly transnational movement based on shared artistic commitments. “Other Primary Structures” again foregrounds Minimalism’s internationalism—this time by including twenty-six artists from what were once considered the art world’s margins. The sculptures of Lygia Clark, David Medalla, and Susumu Koshimizu, for example, provocatively resonate with, and occasionally refuse, the concerns nearest to Minimalism’s still-beating heart. The exhibition—which will occasion a reissue of the 1966 catalogue and the publication of a new volume—will no doubt elicit broader questions of comparison and its viability in fleshing out the ever-elusive ideal of a genuinely global art history.
