Two days ago I showed you some large buildings with quonset-like roofs. These buildings were called "artillery sheds" where the big guns were stored and maintained. They are now both filled with aluminum boxes created by the artist Donald Judd, who bought the old military base and turned it into a contemporary art museum. In the foreground of this photo is one of the 100 aluminum boxes that the artist designed. All of the boxes have the same exterior size, but some are open on top or on the sides or on the ends. Many have other pieces of aluminum inside them, some at an angle. The aluminum is 1/2" thick and comes from the factory with a shiny "mill finish." You cannot touch the pieces because they would then have finger prints etched on them from the acid in the perspiration from our fingers. You can't photograph them during the tour, for two reasons, I am guessing. One is that it would be a distraction to have everyone photographing, instead of looking and experiencing the works. The second reason is probably because when photographing, people might be bumping into the boxes.
What is astounding about this exhibit for me is the unimaginable variations between each box. No two are alike and I was stunned at how many things could be different in each box, and yet there are 100 of them. It is a mind boggling exhibit, and it is impossible to imagine the feeling of wandering through the two buildings and carefully looking at each individual box. It is so much more interesting than a description would make it sound, Oh, I took the photographs long after the inside tour was done. I came up to the doors at the end, and wiped the dust off the window and photographed through the glass. Same thing for photographing through the large windows on the side, The photos are fairly clear, but I wished I had a bottle of Windex and some paper towels!