Folds Rips Cuts: Art at home with 'The Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt' project

About

Presented as part of The Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt: Foundations, Pivots and Place public program suite, Folds Rips Cuts is an ongoing, online program that invites you to make your own artwork following the concepts that The Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt project champions.

Sol LeWitt's iconic wall drawings were developed as a series of instructions. In his 1967 essay, “Paragraphs on Conceptual Art”, the artist explained how it was the instructions – or the idea – that formed the artwork, making them more important than the physical object. He believed that “the idea becomes a machine that makes the art”. Often the artworks were made, not by LeWitt himself, but by assistants following his instructions. By inviting others to fabricate his work, LeWitt challenged the traditional role of the artist in the making process.

The instructions for LeWitt’s works function like a composer’s score. As he described it: “It’s as though I were writing a piece of music and somebody else is going to play it." Different outcomes were sometimes drawn from LeWitt’s directions. He accepted these differences, seeing them as a part of the overall process. He created space within his instructions for improvisation: “I try to make the plan specific enough that it comes out more or less as I want it, but general enough that they have the freedom to interpret”.

Influenced by this way of artmaking, The Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt: Foundations, Pivots and Place  co-curator and artist, Irene Barberis, has developed directions for creating coloured paper structures. Submit your creation to galleries@rmit.edu.au and go in the running to win prizes, including tickets to forthcoming film screenings and other exciting events.

This public program is presented by The Conentric Influences of Sol LeWitt project in partnership with Metasenta and RMIT Gallery.

The Sol LeWitt Wall Drawing is generously loaned by the LeWitt Family and Estate.

Instructions

Hint: Have a practice round with a piece of scrap paper first.

Core rules

Fold establishes the structure.

Cut opens the structure.

Tucking holds the tension.

The second colour becomes visible through the openings.

Materials

Coloured A4 paper or cardboard

Scissors or pen knife and cutting board

Open Diagonal

Use two differently coloured pieces of A4 paper or cardboard.

Place one sheet on top of the other.

Fold the top sheet diagonally from corner to corner.

Fold again from two different additional outer points toward an off-centre point.

Open the sheet.

With the pages stacked on top of each other, cut both sheets along the diagonal lines you see on the top sheet.

Select different corners and fold the top page inwards.

Go around the top sheet folding the corners in different directions to reveal the coloured paper underneath, creating your Folds Rips Cuts structure. Fold the page beneath around the emerging top sheet structure.

(Optional) Create small cuts in different areas of the top sheet and tuck corners of the bottom sheet into those areas.

Email galleries@rmit.edu.au with your name and a photo of your creation to be featured on our social media and website.

Prizes

Email galleries@rmit.edu.au with your name and a photo of your creation for a chance to win RMIT Gallery books and catalogues or a double pass to one of the following events:

NAIDOC Week 2026 Screening – WINHANGANGA, presented by RMIT | The Capitol, 8 July, 6:30 - 8:30pm

Stan Grant: When Words Fail Us, presented by RMIT & The Wheeler Centre | The Capitol, 16 July, 7:00 - 8:15pm

The Best Films You've Neer Seen: Queer Edition, presented by RMIT | The Capitol, 21 July 6:30 - 9:00pm

More events to be added soon!

The Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt: Foundations, Pivots and Place

05 Jun 2026 - 29 Aug 2026

'The Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt: Foundations, Pivots and Place' positions Australia at the centre of an ambitious global dialogue on conceptual art, influence and the circulation of ideas. Instigated and directed by Dr Irene Barberis, the project demonstrates how Australian scholarship and curatorial innovation can actively shape international discourse surrounding one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century.

Exhibition Tour with the Curator

16 Jul 2026

Delve into ‘The Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt: Foundations, Pivots and Place’ in this walkthrough with curator, Irene Barberis.

Sol LeWitt: Recollections of a great artist and a wonderful friend. A talk by John Kaldor AO

30 Jul 2026

Join us for a lecture by esteemed art collector and founder of Kaldor Art Projects, John Kaldor AO, as he discusses his recollections of artist Sol LeWitt

Folds Rips Cuts: Art at home with 'The Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt' project