A world of black rectangles

For an exhibition in Rome, Konstantin Grcic has collected a bunch of products that are basically black rectangles.

Among the items he included are a gravestone, a wallet, soap, a table, a perfume bottle, a cooking pot, a television set, a cart, an accordion, a Sudoko cube, a fireplace, a laptop, a Chanel handbag, a gas tank, a bible and Prince’s “Black Album,” from 1987. “How is it that so many different things made in so many different ways end being black rectangles?” Mr. Grcic asked. “They can be extremely elegant and sophisticated, or very basic, but they are such strong and powerful parts of our lives that it is impossible to imagine a world without them.”

It’s funny…in the column of photos accompanying the Times article, Grcic looks a bit like a black rectangle himself.

• design
• Konstantin Grcic