MODEL STUDIES
As of 2011 , Thomas Demand has developed several series of Model Studies – works which focus on the concept of the model as the space between creative idea and its execution . In these Model Studies , Demand moves away from his usual practice , for example by no longer exclusively photographing his own self-built scale models , but rather those of other artists , architects and designers . Often , these projects involve never realized models , and as such the projects continue to embody a potential , a possibility .
Rather than being nostalgic musings , Demand ' s Model Studies document his chance encounters with the work of these artists . If in most of his photographs the camera is in a frontal yet remote position , in these studies the various scale models are shown from up close . This results in series of images which come across as abstract and highly tactile through the textures and materials depicted .
Model Studies I ( 2011 ), based on the work of the American architect John Lautner , is on display together with the sculpture Do Words Have Voices ( 2011 ) by Martin Boyce . Like Demand ’ s series , this ceiling sculpture refers to an architectural legacy from the past . Both works were first shown together in 2012 at the Venice Biennale of Architecture .
Model Studies II ( 2015 ) starts from the work of the Japanese architectural firm SANAA . The wallpaper of the room in which the series is on display alters the spatial experience of the room through the repetition of a folded motif .
The most recent series , Model Studies IV ( 2020 ), which draws on the work of fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa , is on display in the third room .
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