the last lecture for columbia this year hosted artist thomas demand. i actually was looking forward to this talk since the lecture series were posted on the website. mr. demand had a solo show at the moma back in 2005, from which i remember thinking that this man is incredibly smart about lighting to make his projects look so incredibly believable.

if you don't know much of his work, thomas demand recreates photographs completely out of cardboard and paper in lifesize sculptures that are photographed and then promptly destroyed. i still remember the giant print of "the clearing" that he exhibited at the moma show... it's really beautiful.



you can check out an audio description/commentary of this piece on the moma's website right here.


so about the lecture...

started with some highlights...
. explaining how he started creating paper sculptures - answer: because his first apartment was so tiny. so in order to not have piles of models cluttering his living space, he sought out an inexpensive and readily available material that would not break his heart to destroy in order to keep producing work. therefore the cardboard and paper.


. finding out that his stop-motion film, rain, is composed of over 700 images using only many layers of glass and candy wrappers to create the impression of raindrop splashes. that one was also really beautiful.

... then a lowlight...
. the anecdote about going into the nigerian embassy in rome in order to document the publically inaccessible space. that was long... long, and without any changes in image projected on the screen. probably a very interesting story, but sleep deprivation plus an overly lengthy description made me honestly checked out at that moment.

... but went back to a super interesting moment
.it was great that he went on to describe the conceptual and construction process of the oval office project that was commissioned by the new york times magazine. he totally showed process photos of how he constructed each element, plus the supporting wood frame structure. and, sounding slightly guilty, admitted to using computer modeling in order to quickly and efficiently get the oval curvature correct in the wood framing and paper cutouts. my inner archinerd was happy to see how the thing was actually constructed, not just the resulting images.


at the end of the lecture, mr. demand mentioned that he is now working on an exhibition for the new national gallery in berlin. the work all has a political bent, and overwhelmingly american. seeing that mr. demand pulls his photographic references from major media, it was interesting to think that the recent past has been plastered with photographs of american political events by many major news outlets around the world - like the ballot controversy in florida during the gore/bush election of 2000. and by the way, the photos he referenced of people disconcertingly analyzing little paper ballots in search of a pinhole were just precious. it reminded me of this blog - brokers with hands on their faces blog.

anyway, i believe that he mentioned that this exhibition is being developed in collaboration with london architects caruso st. john. let the blurring between art and architecture continue...