{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1498384"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1498384/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CC0376/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CC0376/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009CC0376","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1498384","accessionNumber":"38041994100873","objectType":"Mail art","titles":[{"title":"Work no. 88 : a sheet of A4 paper crumpled into a ball","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"This tightly crumpled ball of plain A4 paper was created by the British Conceptual artist Martin Creed. Creed, who won the Turner Prize in 2001, produces work which playfully examines the values and attributes associated with art. \r\n\r\n<i>Work no. 88: a sheet of A4 paper crumpled into a ball</i> plays with the definitions of art, questioning and subverting them. The work appears at first glance as a piece of rubbish, an object on the way to the bin. However, by placing it in a museum case and by designating it as art, Creed gives his crumpled ball of paper the value and status of an artwork. Creed’s work is often impulsive and intuitive, using minimum intervention to create maximum impact. <i>Work no. 88</i> invokes the sense of the frustration, rejection and exasperation often associated with scrunched up, discarded paper. However, the folds are careful and deliberate: the paper has been shaped into an almost-perfect sphere. Rather than being a piece of art gone wrong and violently abandoned, Creed’s crumpled paper is a deliberate, finished and perfected art object. \r\n\r\nSince 1987, Martin Creed has been numbering the art he produces. Speaking in 2019, Creed explained that this decision was due to the fact he thought ‘titles were pretentious […] why can't I have catalogue numbers?’ The decision was also inspired by his interest in classical music and by the opus numbers attached to pieces of music by Beethoven.<i> (Talk Art with Martin Creed, March 2019, 27:26-28:03)</i> Each of Creed’s works fits into a sequence now in its thousands. \r\n\r\nIn 1995, copies of <i>Work no. 88 </i>were sent though the post to over 150 galleries, museums and critics. This mass mailing was organised by the artist and curator Matthew Higgs and his organisation <i>Imprint</i>. <i>Imprint</i>, founded in the 1990s, was a project which posted the work of young artists, like Martin Creed, to art institutions. Mail Art, such as this, is a movement that began in the 1950s, and is centred around sending small pieces of art through the post. \r\n","physicalDescription":"1 sheet of paper, crumpled into a ball ; 30 x 21 cm crumpled to approximately 5 cm diameter.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Martin Creed","id":"AUTH327983"},"association":{"text":"Artist","id":"AAT131101"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"National Art Library","id":"THES271541"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"NAL","id":"THES48605"},"images":["2009CC0376"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES342930"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Mail art","id":"AAT121462"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1994","earliest":"1994-01-01","latest":"1994-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Donated by Matthew Higgs ","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"When crumpled","note":"Taken from NAL Catalogue"},{"dimension":"Height","value":"30","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"When smoothed out","note":"Taken from NAL Catalogue"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"21 ","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"When smoothed out","note":"Taken from NAL Catalogue"}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Donated by Matthew Higgs in 1994, and was in a brown envelope addressed to Simon Ford. The work is signed by the artist on an accompanying sheet of paper.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Mail art, 'Work no. 88 : a sheet of A4 paper crumpled into a ball', Martin Creed, Matthew Higgs (Donor), Simon Ford (Donor), London : Imprint 93, 1994. ","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Conceptual artist Martin Creed's work is concerned with the nature of art itself. <i>Work no. 88 </i>can be seen as something precious at the same time as being a piece of rubbish, challenging our preconceptions about the boundaries of art. Creed won the Turner Prize in 2001.  ","date":{"text":"June 2019","earliest":"2019-06-01","latest":"2019-06-30"}}],"partNumbers":["38041994100873"],"accessionNumberNum":"38041994100873","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"NAL Pressmark","id":"THES56809"},"number":"X940029"}],"copyNumber":"38","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LU5425","2019LM9877"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-06-02","recordCreationDate":"2019-06-13","availableToBook":false}}