M Leuven presents HOUSE OF CARD, a major retrospective of the work of the German artist Thomas Demand, with contributions by Arno Brandlhuber, Martin Boyce, Caruso St John and Rirkrit Tiravanija. The exhibition is the first to concentrate in-depth on the role of architecture in Demand’s work.
HOUSE OF CARD offers an overview of various approaches to construction in Demand’s oeuvre from the past fifteen years. His work related to models, scenography and even buildings are closely related to architecture At the same time HOUSE OF CARD shows the connection between Demand’s projects and those of other influential artists, architects and designers like Martin Boyce, Arno Brandlhuber, Caruso St John en Rirkrit Tiravanija.
The title HOUSE OF CARD 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.
Thomas Demand balances between fiction and reality. Although trained as a sculptor, Demand’s main medium is photography, which he uses to record his ephemeral life-size models made of colored paper and cardboard. By destroying the paper constructions once the photograph has been taken, their only raison d’être is the final photographic image.
