Early in his career Carl Andre summarized the history of 20th-century sculpture with a simple maxim: “Sculpture-as-shape; sculpture-as-structure; sculpture-as- place.” Shaped or modeled sculpture was the dominant practice from antiquity until Rodin; structural sculpture, a sculpture of repeated, joined units, emerged with Tatlin and Brancusi. In “sculpture-as-place” these units are unattached and laid directly on the floor; inviting one to walk around and across it, it’s a sculpture that solicits bodily participation.

The best example of “sculpture-as-place” is of course Andre’s own work—the