Zero Mass
ZERO MASS (1969)
—
seamless backdrop paper, wood frame, and lights
Exhibitions
∙ First small version Orr’s studio, Venice Beach, California, 1969
∙ University California Irvine, Irvine, California, 1972
∙ Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 1973
∙ Fort Worth Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, 1977
∙ The first exhibition of the Temporary Contemporary Museum, L.A, CA, 1984
∙ UC San Diego, San Diego, California,
∙ Residence of curator, Hal Glicksman, Ymeray, FR, 2006
∙ Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, CA, 2012
∙ Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark 2021 - 2022
∙ Acquired by Count Giussepe Panza in 1973
∙ Guggenheim Collection 2004
Description
“Removing their shoes, people enter, five or fewer at a time, into a very dark oval 38 feet long, made entirely of paper. The transition of the rod to cone vision gradually unfolds; floods of color wash over the vision and gradually increase like waves. After about 12 minutes one is ready to see in a different way. A sort of spatial meltdown has occurred in the room. No boundary can be detected anywhere. Though human figures can be seen in dim outline against the faintly glowing paper walls, no detail of a face can be seen. The boundary-forming property of space has been dissolved into an indefinite light-substance surrounding one with equal density on all sides. One has entered a murky Stygian world without personal identity and history - a world one hardly knows even how to explore. Something of the experience of initiation into an ancient mystery religion is briefly glimpsed.”
-Eric Orr: A Twenty-Year Survey, 1984 San Diego State University Art Gallery, San Diego, CA.
