A wide view of the Main Library Gallery featuring display cases in the distance with glass tops. Above, suspended from the ceiling, are several etched plexiglass pieces each the size of 8.5 x 11 paper. They are all suspended from a metal bar, and spaced e

Pichler’s plexiglass sculptural work suspended from the ceiling in the Main Library Gallery.


Michalis Pichler
b. Germany, 1980–
Un coup de dés jamais n’abolira le hasard (SCULPTURE)
Berlin: “greatest hits,” 2008
Laser-etched plexiglass
Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Visual and Concrete Poetry, University of Iowa Libraries

From curator Rich Dana:

Hanging above in the gallery you will discover a three-dimensional approach to “Un coup de dés” created by Berlin artist Michalis Pichler. The piece is based on the Marcel Broodthaers 1969 blacked-out version of the poem, which is also on display in this exhibit. Pichler reiterates the visual aspect of Mallarmé’s typography by laser etching the text blocks into plexiglass panels, which invites the viewer to further explore the interaction of the positive and negative space.