Original Condition
Hence, a space, comprising and registering both social and media change, cannot be defined exclusively on the basis of formal parameters indebted to Euclidean geometry. Original Condition, of which Margreiter made three series in 2006, comprises small-format real estate advertisements for family homes and mansions designed by renowned male architects, among them Victor Gruen, Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler and John Lautner. Culled from the greater metropolitan area of Los Angeles, the pictures are arranged in rows that reflect their fluctuating market value as well as their perpetually extolled cultural relevance. The work must be read paradigmatically in this methodological regard: the focus is not on the dimensions or scale of the buildings, nor even on categories of architectural theory. The amenities of the residences are enhanced by the real or merely imagined proximity of the Hollywood film industry, and marketed accordingly: designs that once enlisted utopian ideals to promote a new social aesthetic now appear as mere brands in the commercial realm of upscale living. Following the post-Minimalist tradition of conceptual works employing advertising formats – the work of Dan Graham is the most prominent case in point – Margreiter's series unmistakably demonstrate that these "masterworks" of modern architecture now exist primarily as points of reference within a network of sedimented layers of meaning and media codes.
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(excerpt from André Rottmann 'The Artist as Topologist: Notes on the Work of Dorit Margreiter', in: 'Dorit Margreiter. Description')
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