Richard Serra: Sculpture, Television and the Status Quo

Richard Serra emerged in the 1960s in association with minimalism and land art – two conceptual art movements that speculated on the potentialities of sculpture to affect the space (and therefore the context) in which the work of art is installed or for which it is specifically conceived. Similarly to other conceptual artists (e.g. Lawrence Weiner, Robert Smithson, Robert Morris), Serra’s sculptural research is based on the exploration of ‘process’, ‘repetition’, and ‘serial progression’, employed as allegorical features of modern industrial production and communication. While he is appreciated primarily as a sculptor, Serra also made several films and videos in the 1960sand 1970s which have a pivotal role in both the history of avant-garde film and the development of early video art. This article will take into account this ‘collateral’ production, suggesting that Serra’s work is not merely formalist or materialist. Rather, as his video work suggests, his larger sculptural works and conceptual approach require a re-interpretation as commentaries on social and political issues.