Donna Cohen

During my time in Rome, I plan to write and make small models to study light.

I will look at the work of the Italian-born architect Lauretta Vinciarelli (1943–2011), a theorist, teacher, artist, and collaborator of the American artist Donald Judd (1928–1994), particularly her evocations of light in imagined spaces. Early in my career I assisted Vinciarelli and Judd on several architectural projects, more recently documented with my partner, the architect Claude Armstrong (1952–2020), for the exhibition Obdurate Space: Architecture of Donald Judd. Collecting and expanding on this show, with the architect Judith Birdsong, I am writing “Donald Judd: Five Architectural Works outside Marfa,” which includes built work and my understanding of the collaborative process.

Guided by Vinciarelli’s watercolors, I will model light studies for a new Sanctuary building.