PRESS RELEASE
M is proud to present HOUSE OF CARD , a retrospective of the work of Thomas Demand with contributions by Arno Brandlhuber , Martin Boyce , Caruso St John and Rirkrit Tiravanija . Demand was trained as a sculptor . He gained a reputation in particular through his photographs of life-size models , made of coloured paper or cardboard and often based on existing visual materials . After taking pictures of these models , he discards them . Instead of the actual models , then , their photographical representation basically serves as his artistic work .
Demand ’ s work is often based on pre-existing historical and contemporary found images taken from the media , from books or online sources . By meticously constructing photographs based on self-made models , he delibaretely removes his compositions from the images they are supposed to depict .
The exhibition in M is the first to concentrate in-depth on the role of architecture in Demand ’ s work . It provides an overview of his different approaches to building over the past fifteen years . Demand ‘ s works focus on the model , the décor or scenography , although his buildings are also inextricably linked to architecture . At the same time , HOUSE OF CARD highlights the similarities between Demand ‘ s projects and those of other artists or architects such as Martin Boyce , Arno Brandlhuber , Caruso St John and Rirkrit Tiravanija .
The title refers to the precariousness of Demand ‘ s practice as a builder . Whereas architecture generally equates with permanence , Demand prefers to explore the limits of the ephemeral , as is evidenced in his use of paper and cardboard .
The exhibition centres on Demand ’ s ongoing series of Model Studies , works in which the concept of the model takes a central place as the space between creative idea and execution . In Model Studies , Demand abandons his usual practice . Here , for the first time , he does not photograph his own self-built scale models , but rather those of other artists , architects and designers , including John Lautner , SANAA ( Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa ), Hans Hollein and Azzedine Alaïa .
In addition to his series of Model Studies , the exhibition provides an overview of Demand ’ s architectural interests and designs covering the past fifteen years . It presents several rarely exhibited projects , such as Black Label from 2009 , Embassy from 2007 ( a collaboration with the German architect Arno Brandlhuber ), Nagelhaus from 2010 ( a non-realized project in collaboration with Caruso St John ), and Kvadrat pavilions , involving a design by Demand which is currently being executed next to the head office of textile giant Kvadrat in Denmark .
In the context of the exhibition , a new monograph on the work of Thomas Demand will appear . Published by M Leuven and MACK London , the book ’ s design is by Julie Peeters . This monograph contains essays by Maristella Casciato & Emily Pugh , Aude-Line Dulière , Karen Van Godtsenhoven , Valerie Verhack and Adam Caruso , as well as the text of a conversation between Thomas Demand , Hal Foster and David Chipperfield . The book also contains visuals contributions by Martin Boyce , Arno Brandlhuber and Rirkrit Tiravanija .
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