Starting Point and Paths
Franz Erhard Walther
German, born 1939
1969
A compact pine shelving unit holding folded fabric forms—made of fabric and wood—that the artist intended viewers to handle, wear, and rearrange as participatory, performative sculpture.
You first notice an austere, bunklike wooden box filled with pale, tightly strapped rolls and flattened cushions of cloth that read like beds folded into luggage, their straps suggesting use and readiness for activation.
Walther turned sculpture into an invitation to act, breaking the boundary between object and performer and helping to open late 20th‑century art toward participation, body-based work, and relational practice.
Medium
Fabric
Dimensions
Component (Box for cloth shoes): 5 1/2 x 33 1/16 x 25 3/16" (14 x 84 x 64 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Scott Burton Fund
Accession
1060.2010.51
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions