Originally situated at the plateau la Reynie across from the plateau Beaubourg, Trames 3°, 87°, 93°, 183° (Grids 3°, 87°, 93°, 183°) was commissioned in 1971 by the City of Paris and the Centre national d’art contemporain to herald the future location of the Centre Pompidou, which opened in 1977. This major public commission propelled François Morellet’s career forward and marked the expansion of his practice to include large-scale architectural integrations (or “désintégrations architecturales” as he playfully referred to them). Despite the irregular and varied surface available, the grids expand to occupy the space in a uniform manner, twice rotating an orthogonal structure by three degrees. On loan from the artist’s estate through October 2019, Dia’s presentation of the work on the facade of 535 West 22nd Street was completed for the François Morellet exhibition in 2017–18, marking the first time that this monumental work has been re-sited since its original display more than forty years ago.

François Morellet

François Morellet was born in Cholet, France, in 1926. He died in Cholet in 2016.

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