Written exchanges with Martin Szekely

When he made the decision to stop drawing in 1998, Martin Szekely moved on to the next stage in his minimalist progression – i.e., reducing personal subjectivity in aesthetic decisions to a minimum, in order to leave as much room as possible for the essential functions of the objects he was making. Restraint and erasure virtually constitute a trademark of his work, an aspect which, with similar logic, he rarely evokes. This is why the third-year art and design students at ENSA Limoges and Indiana Collet-Barquero are particularly grateful to him for agreeing to launch the written exchanges series and provide a personal insight into his positioning at the crossroads of art and design, a stance of obvious interest in art schools like Limoges where design is taught as a specific part of the curriculum.