Lines

1976

Line I

213.5 x 2 cm diameter aluminium rod wound with 0.004” nickel wire.

35.5 x 35.5 x 2 cm base

35.5 x 7.7 x 15 cm turntable box in steel finished matt white cellulose

Creuzet motor 5rpm

Line II

244 x 2.5 cm diameter stainless tube wound with 0.12” nickel wire, top 10 cm left unwound, painted white with 0.5 cm blue horizontal stripe

35.5 x 35.5 x 1.3 cm base, faceted at corners

43 x 7 x 19.7 cm (at apex) turntable cover in painted steel

Creuzet motor 5rpm

Line III

244 x 2 cm diameter stainless tube wound with 0.006” copper wire and 0.004” nickel wire in alternate strands. Top 10 cm left unwound and painted white with one 1.5 cm grey horizontal stripe.

30 x 37 x 39 x 1 cm triangular base / turntable in thick steel finished in matt grey cellulose

Creuzet motor 5rpm

Line IV

244 x 2 cm diameter stainless tube wound with 0.066” copper wire and 0.007” nickel wire in alternate strands. Top 14 cm left unwound and painted white with 1.5 cm grey horizontal stripe

The Lines series was an attempt to minimalise the support structure for the reflected line of light. The Lines replace form with a luminous code. Lijn gradually refined the columns until, in 1976, the cylinders Lijn made were almost as thin as the line of light. The light line is an irrational code, a way the surface has of speaking. It indicates precisely all the changes made to the surface of the cylinders in what appears as a four dimensional space-time metaphor.

Lijn is interested in the way a reflected line of light describes the altered surface of the cylinder. It speaks with a serpentine, sibylline voice, sensual but also cerebral, since it gives precise information about any changes made to the surface of the cylinder.