Margaret Roberts Arrange Malevich 2013, blue felt, in MULTI_GRIP, Articulate project space, 12-28 July 2013 (being arranged by Rachelle Down, photo Mandy Burgess)

Arrange Malevich uses the shapes in Suprematist Painting: Eight Red Rectangles, 1915, by Kazimir Malevich. The shapes are cut out in blue felt and laid on the floor in an arrangement that is different from Eight Red Rectangles but still reminiscent of Malevich's work. The title invites visitors to (re-) arrange them. Being able to re-arrange the eight rectangles suggests that the work may be not yet ended, that the energy of its production might continue through the participation of later artists(1), not with the intention of 'improving' or even changing what the artist decided upon, but simply to keep the work alive, in the way that musical performances live again every time they are performed. Arrange Malevich was accompanied by small felt versions of Occupy Kobro (SC9) that people inhabit by bending one over their hand or arm etc and thereby shape them to bring them closer to the sculpture first made eight decades earlier.

Below left: Katarzyna Kobro, Spatial Composition 9, painted metal, 1933. Below right: Margaret Roberts Occupy Kobro (SC9) (small version), orange felt, 2013 (Photo Jo Rankine)

.

(1) everyone is an artist in this case