Serial art

Serial art is art that follows a strict set of rules to determine its own composition or to generate a whole series of compositions. Instead of intuitive, subjective choice, the artist establishes a system in advance — a sequence, progression, permutation, or mathematical formula — and carries it out consistently, often producing a run of related works. This method removes, or at least limits, the role of personal taste and chance decision, emphasising instead logic, order, and a predetermined structure. Serial art is closely linked to the Minimalism and Conceptualism of the 1960s. Sol LeWitt formulated written instructions and exhaustive sets of variations on geometric forms; Donald Judd constructed rows of identical objects placed at fixed intervals; Hanne Darboven filled sheets with systematic numerical sequences. Seriality is akin to the modular principle, since both operate through repetition and system. The idea of the series challenged the traditional notion of the unique masterpiece and made process and concept central to the work of art.