Douglas Huebler
DM 1 Variable Piece #70:1971

DM 1 Variable Piece #70:1971

© Estate of Douglas Huebler/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

DM 1 Variable Piece #70:1971
DM 1 Variable Piece #70:1971
ArtistAmerican, 1924–1997
CultureGerman
Titles
  • DM 1 Variable Piece #70:1971
DateJune 11, 1978
PlaceDachau, Germany
MediumChromogenic prints with printed text
DimensionsOverall (.A, Dachau Concentration Camp): 16 × 19 15/16 in. (40.6 × 50.7 cm)
Overall (.B, Dachau): 16 × 19 15/16 in. (40.6 × 50.7 cm)
Overall (.C, Munich): 16 × 19 15/16 in. (40.6 × 50.7 cm)
Overall (.D, Printed textual documentation): 11 × 8 1/2 in. (27.9 × 21.6 cm)
Frame (Each Plexiglas framed photograph (.A-.C)): 16 1/4 × 20 3/8 × 1 5/8 in. (41.3 × 51.8 × 4.1 cm)
Frame (Plexiglas frame for .D): 11 3/8 × 9 3/4 × 1 5/8 in. (28.9 × 24.8 × 4.1 cm)
Credit LineThe Target Collection of American Photography, museum purchase funded by Target Stores
Object number81.123.A-.D
Non exposé

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Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

DM 1 Variable Piece #70: 1971 is part of a series Douglas Huebler started in 1968 as an attempt to document the existence of "everyone alive." In 1977 Huebler explained, "In some circumstances I have designed a work's destiny to remain 'in process' for years-in some, beyond the life expectancy of an owner-in order to demand that the real production of the 'art' be the responsibility of ownership, and to suspend the consumption of art-as-object."

While many conceptual artists were interested in the critique of art's commodity status, Huebler's approach was different. Because the owner was responsible for the work's production as well as its consumption, it was impossible to possess the completed work as an art "object."  Although rigidly systematic, the form of documentation is highly idiosyncratic. Moreover, the subject of each photograph is identified by an aphorism-in this case, "At least one person who would leave no stone unturned"-that parodies both the objectivity of the archive and claims for its completeness.


ProvenanceThe artist; purchased by MFAH, 1981.
Exhibition HistoryExhibited in "Voilà, Le Monde dans la tête" at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France, from June 7 to October 29, 2000 (LN:2000.17).

Exhibited: "Contemporary Photography from the Collection of the MFAH", at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, August 15, 2003-January 4, 2004.

Exhibited "Target Collection of American Photography: A Century in Pictures",
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston December 3 - February 25, 2007
Austin Museum of Art May 19 - August 12, 2007

"Ruptures and Continuities: Photography Made after 1960 from the MFAH Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Brown Foundation Galleries, February 21 - May 9, 2010.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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