Landlines

1973

39.4 x 41 x 21 cm

Card, silkscreen on paper and silkscreen on metallised plastic.

Victoria and Albert Museum/Private Collections

A book which unfolds to become a frame with 2 windows for an interactive permutable print set, each copy signed and dated by the artist. Produced by the artist, printed by Kevin Harris, case made by Nick Williams in an edition of 75.

Each undulating cut-out of the eight Landlines is printed on both sides, a blend on one surface with a grey derived from the blended colour on the reverse. The number of permutations for relationships between these sixteen forms and colours is in the order of 16 factorial.

Inspired by a trip through the French Alpilles, during which Lijn watched the horizon continually change shape, she decided to make a 2 dimensional artwork which would be an image of continual change.

As in so many of Lijn’s works, this book/print set is conceived to be interactive, a work in which the audience or the collector will participate. All works of art are determined to some degree by those who experience them.

Lijn has for a long time been interested in work specifically designed to allow the audience to interact with it. This can be challenging when the interaction physically changes the work and Lijn has found that definite parameters are necessary to give structure and meaning to the interaction.