Editing Modularity (section)

===Modularity in the arts===
The use of modules in the fine arts has a long pedigree among diverse cultures. In the [[classical architecture]] of Greco-Roman antiquity, the module was utilized as a standardized unit of measurement for proportioning the elements of a building. Typically the module was established as one-half the diameter of the lower shaft of a classical column; all the other components in the syntax of the classical system were expressed as a fraction or multiple of that module. In traditional Japanese construction, room sizes were often determined by combinations of standard rice mats called [[tatami]]; the standard dimension of a mat was around 3 feet by 6 feet, which approximate the overall proportions of a reclining human figure. The module thus becomes not only a proportional device for use with three-dimensional vertical elements but a two-dimensional planning tool as well.

Modularity as a means of measurement is intrinsic to certain types of building; for example, brick construction is by its nature modular insofar as the fixed dimensions of a brick necessarily yield dimensions that are multiples of the original unit. Attaching bricks to one another to form walls and surfaces also reflects a second definition of modularity: namely, the use of standardized units that physically connect to each other to form larger compositions.

With the advent of modernism and advanced construction techniques in the 20th century this latter definition transforms modularity from a compositional attribute to a thematic concern in its own right. A school of [[modular constructivism]] develops in the 1950s among a circle of sculptors who create sculpture and architectural features out of repetitive units cast in concrete. A decade later modularity becomes an autonomous artistic concern of its own, as several important [[Minimalist]] artists adopt it as their central theme. Modular building as both an industrial production model and an object of advanced architectural investigation develops from this same period.

Modularity has found renewed interest among proponents of [[ModulArt]], a form of modular art in which the constituent parts can be physically reconfigured, removed and/or added to. After a few isolated experiments in ModulArt starting in the 1950s,<ref>Notably, cubic sculptures by [[Mitzi Cunliffe]] in the 1950s and 1960s, and prints by the sculptor [[Norman Carlberg]] from the 1970s and after.</ref> several artists since the 1990s have explored this flexible, customizable and co-creative form of art.<ref>See "Modulartists and Their Works" in [[ModulArt]].</ref>