EEN VOORWERP GEMAAKT OM OP EEN ANDER TE LIJKEN DOOR TOEVOEGING VAN EEN VOLDOENDE HOEVEELHEID UITWENDIGE KWALITEITEN / AN OBJECT MADE TO RESEMBLE ANOTHER BY THE ADDITION OF A SUFFICIENT QUANTITY OF EXTERNAL QUALITIES (voorgevel Stedelijk Museum)

The plaque with a text work by Lawrence Weiner on the exterior wall of the museum was installed after a renovation in the mid-1980s. The “2% rule” allowed a percentage of the construction budget to be spent on a work of art. During the preparations for a Lawrence Weiner exhibition, it was suggested that Weiner should be invited to create a work of art for the museum. Weiner was fascinated by the empty frames on the building’s facade and designed a plaque for the space, featuring a text in bronze. In many of his sculptures, Weiner places the emphasis on words and uses language to take the place of the physical materials with which the work might be constructed. This translation into text and its subsequent publication is sufficient for the artist and becomes the work in itself. The transformation of the physical object into text can also be seen in the plaque. The text refers to the way people relate to an object and how objects relate to one another.