Robert Morris

As an important figure in the development of Process Art, Robert Morris made a number of works that were focused on art as a process of creation rather than as a static object. In these works, he often used ephemeral materials that were difficult to sculpt into predetermined shapes. Continuous Project Altered Daily: R. Morris 1969 is a book that documents one such installation. 

It was published as part of Artists & Photographs, a collaborative boxed set of artists’ books issued in 1970 by Multiples, Inc.  The complete set is exceedingly scarce at this point in time; the portfolio of works was set in a box designed by Dan Graham which contained books, objects, prints, and other materials of various dimensions by nineteen artists along with a text booklet by Lawrence Alloway.  The set was published by gallerist Marian Goodman in conjunction with a 1970 exhibition that explored how contemporary artists, including Douglas Heubler, Allan Kaprow, Joseph Kosuth, Sol LeWitt, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, Dennis Oppenheim, and Ed Ruscha, were using photography in their work. 

For the installation, Morris used earth, water, grease, plastic, felt, wood, thread, light, photographs, and sound as his materials and altered the installation’s form each day. This book presents sixteen sepia-toned offset-printed photos of the installation showing twelve stages of the work along with detail shots of the piece. This book is presented as one long continuous sheet folded into a vertical accordion-format, allowing the viewer to note the changes in the work over time. Each of the photos in the book takes up one panel of the accordion and is accompanied by a small caption at the left.