Liam Gillick
Black Phase of Service, 2024
Powder coated aluminium
31.5 x 32 x 8 cm
12 3/8 x 12 5/8 x 3 1/8 in
12 3/8 x 12 5/8 x 3 1/8 in
Copyright the artist & KIN, Brussels
'Grey Phase Node' is a horizontal wall-mounted sculpture created from an aluminium T-slot extrusion, an industrial material commonly used in server farms, data centers, laboratories, and automated manufacturing lines. This...
"Grey Phase Node" is a horizontal wall-mounted sculpture created from an aluminium T-slot extrusion, an industrial material commonly used in server farms, data centers, laboratories, and automated manufacturing lines. This material is central to Gillick’s work, and he explores it in a range of shapes and colours. By bringing the T-slots to the forefront, Gillick strips them of their intended industrial application to explore corporate aesthetics and what he has called the "semiotics of built environments".
The aluminium is coated with a grid of vivid colors drawn from RAL, a system of standardization which was conceived in Germany in the 1920s. If RAL is used globally today across many industries, it still falls short of the ambition which created it, to develop a system of universal communication, with applications beyond simple commercial use. The optimism of this time contrasts with the century of history which followed; with "Grey Phase Node", Gillick reminds us of how ideologies are carried in architecture and design, and how far we are from one unified language.
The aluminium is coated with a grid of vivid colors drawn from RAL, a system of standardization which was conceived in Germany in the 1920s. If RAL is used globally today across many industries, it still falls short of the ambition which created it, to develop a system of universal communication, with applications beyond simple commercial use. The optimism of this time contrasts with the century of history which followed; with "Grey Phase Node", Gillick reminds us of how ideologies are carried in architecture and design, and how far we are from one unified language.