Walter De Maria: Energy of Order

The exhibition takes The 2000 Sculpture (1992) as its point of departure: 2,000 white plaster elements extending across 500 square metres in a precise rhythm. From this major work, the exhibition brings together a focused selection spanning three decades, with numerous works from the Bechtler Stiftung alongside generous loans from private collections, Kunstmuseum Basel and Fondazione Prada: the early conceptual drawing Water Water Water (1965), the expansive installation Beds of Spikes (1968–69), the rarely accessible film Bed of Spikes(1968–69), and There Exists in the Universe More Than One Billion Galaxies (1988), which carries the order of numbers into a cosmic dimension. Between barely visible writing, physical danger, geometric order and immeasurable scale, a fundamental principle of De Maria’s work emerges: precise structures do not limit perception, but lead far beyond what is immediately visible.