Untitled 1967

Editor: This photograph, titled "Untitled" by Mel Bochner from 1967, features a close-up of a chain-link fence. The high contrast and focus on the material itself makes me think about industrialization. What is your take on this piece? Curator: Precisely! Look at the industrial materials at play: the galvanized metal transformed into a functional, almost invisible barrier. Bochner’s photograph invites us to consider not only the fence itself, but the labor involved in its production and installation. Consider the chain-link fence's original purpose. It divides spaces, creates boundaries, and controls access, right? Editor: Yes, I see what you mean, but photographing it… is that elevating an everyday object to art, or commenting on its socio-political function? Curator: Perhaps both. Bochner prompts us to acknowledge the usually overlooked materiality of our surroundings. It's a stark contrast: a manufactured product becoming an object worthy of aesthetic contemplation through artistic intervention. He focuses on the geometric patterns created by the fence, but the core is its role in construction, in containing or excluding. Do you think the photographic medium impacts this reading? Editor: Absolutely, by choosing photography, Bochner freezes a specific moment of material existence, suggesting an intentional engagement with the object, as it's processed into an image, in turn objectified as "art". It does raise awareness of its underlying manufacturing context. Curator: Indeed! And by doing so, he draws attention to the hidden infrastructure shaping our lived experience. That's one aspect that stays with me. Editor: I agree. I had not considered this as making an argument for seeing artistic merit within the context of material culture, of processes. Curator: I find these works interesting since they question these divisions. Thanks to Bochner, now we have to contemplate about these manufacturing means too.