Once again Thomas Demand has ventured into curating and once again the outcome is admirable. As was the case with Model Studies, he chose a subject that contextualizes his own artistic practice without necessarily telling too much about it. He also chose an interesting team to work with. Fellow artist Manfred Pernice designed the show. Fellow artist John Baldessari conceived the billboard and poster campaign in the city.
Installation views. Photographs Delfino Sisto Legnano Studio via Fondazione Prada
The curatorial sequence develops thanks to the careful interaction between artworks, space and color in the Fondazione Prada's North gallery. [I refer to their website for a good general description]. When visiting the show, we see everything for what it is and there seems to be no disguises: the drywall was laid on the preexisting industrial floor; the skirting is sometimes present and sometimes absent; the different colours and the many materials on which they are laid better articulate the three approaches to the theme. Even the labels, always a disturbing element when visiting
exhibitions, are placed appropriately.
Labels. Photographs Mariana Siracusa
The show is a
great example of well-coordinated efforts to compose a coherent narrative. As
all those who have worked on exhibitions know, putting up a show is usually teamwork.
There is an institution, a curator, a curatorial team of researchers, an exhibition designer, a
graphic designer, a light designer, a coordinator, not to mention the
technicians who actually build the space. Their expertise should come together
into a consistent outcome but more often than not the
details reveal problems. This is not
the case here.
Installation view. Photograph Delfino Sisto Legnano Studio via Fondazione Prada
There is only one element that does not live up to the feeling of extreme care that the exhibition conveys. And that is the publication that accompanies the show.
It is a nice exhibition catalogue where nothing is missing. It is a good reminder of what the visitors saw in the galleries, but nothing more. The essays by renowned critics, the conversation with the exhibition designer, the case studies, the clear chapters, the commented index of all selected works, and the bibliography somehow don't come together into a convincing and unitarian object. Translating a spacial experience into two-dimensional pages is not an easy task. It is the reason why publications require a different attitude both by the curator and the reader/visitor.
Exhibition poster by John Baldessari
