This exhibition presents sculptural and photographic works by Roelof Louw (b. 1936, Cape Town, South Africa) who showed here in 1969, alongside material from the archive and a number of rare articles and books related to Louw’s work.
Louw began to develop new environmental forms of practice as seen in his 1969 site-specific installation Location at the Oxford Museum of Modern Art (as it was then known). In a letter held in the gallery’s archive, which is on display here, he expresses surprise that Caro approved of his Oxford installation. Struck by the distinctive architecture of the Upper Gallery, Louw stretched a large, black rubber band and attached it to the gallery walls so that the band surrounded the viewer on all sides and at constant eye-level. The effect if this was said to be so intense that some visitors experienced panic attacks.