Currently on view (Gallery 104)

The Matter of Time

1994–2005Weathering Steel
Dimensions variable

The Matter of Time allows the viewer to perceive the evolution of the artist’s sculptural forms, from the relative simplicity of a double ellipse to the complexity of a spiral. The last two pieces of this sculpture are created from sections of toruses and spheres that produce different effects on the movement and perception of the viewer. These are unexpectedly transformed as the visitor walks through and around them, creating an unforgettable, dizzying feeling of space in motion. The entire room is part of the sculptural field. As he has done in other sculptures composed of many pieces, the artist has arranged the works deliberately in order to move the viewer through them and through the space surrounding them. The layout of the works along the gallery creates corridors with different, always unexpected proportions (wide, narrow, long, compressed, high, low). The installation also includes a progression in time. On the one hand, there is the chronological time that it takes to walk through and observe it from beginning to end. On the other, there is the time during which the viewer experiences the fragments of visual and physical memory, which are combined and re-experienced.

Original title

The Matter of Time

Date

1994–2005

Medium/Materials

Weathering Steel

More info

Eight sculptures

Dimensions

Dimensions variable

Credit line

Guggenheim Bilbao Museoa

The Matter of Time

Step inside Richard Serra’s The Matter of Time (1994–2005), explore this installation from a unique perspective, and observe the evolution of Serra’s sculptural forms.

At the Museum

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Serra R Torsion espiral izquierda abierta derecha cerrada Torqued Spiral Open Left Closed Right 2003–04 1
Serra R Torsion espiral cerrada abierta cerrada abierta cerrada Torqued Spiral Closed Open Closed Open Closed 2003 04 1
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031Serra The Matter of Time 2011

Perspectives

The Matter of Time, by Richard Serra

Dancer and choreographer Israel Galván and curator Lucía Agirre walk around the powerful group of sculptures that make Richard Serra’s The Matter of Time (1994–2005). Galvan’s dance steps reverberate among Serra’s vertigo-inducing forms.