Richard Serra: Every Which Way

“In Every Which Way you confront the frontality of each cluster of plates first, and then turn depending on how much attention you pay. You’re led to make a horizontal shift instead of just walking diagonally or straight ahead. Turning around, walking backward, sliding across—that happens a lot in [my work from this period].”

—Richard Serra

“Every Which Way has more of an architectural reference than prior pieces.… Like the city, Every Which Way forces you to make countersteps, twists, and turns continuously.”

—Richard Serra

“How you perceive depends on how you walk; if you change direction, your perception changes. If you have to make a choice about direction, it becomes a thought.”

—Richard Serra

Every Which Way demonstrates Serra’s concept of the interval: “You have multiple choices—let’s call them intervals. With earlier pieces you enter and exit, and there’s no real decision to make; your footfalls are propelled by where the path takes you.... In architecture you’re directed through connections in a way that’s predicated on utility. That’s the exact opposite of the interval in my recent work; there’s no function, only decision.”