Musée d'Art Contemporain

New Discoveries and Other Obsessions

New Exhibition of Works from the MAC Collection

28 Feb 2015 - 17 Apr 2016

Thomas Demand
Vault, 2012
Collection of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal
© Thomas Demand / SODRAC (2015)
Photo: Courtesy of the Matthew Marks Gallery
Nicolas Baier
Réminiscence, 2012
Collection of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal
Photo: Courtesy of the artist
NEW DISCOVERIES AND OTHER OBSESSIONS
New Exhibition of Works from the MAC Collection
28 February 2015 – 17 April 2016

Designed to showcase the Musée Collection, the exhibition New Discoveries and Other Obsessions, curated by Director and Chief Curator John Zeppetelli, brings together some recent acquisitions and major works in order to form a meaningful snapshot of his main interests in building the MAC Collection.

The centrepiece of the show is the spectacular composition Vault, 2012, by German artist Thomas Demand, acquired in 2014 at Zeppetelli’s initiative.

After initially concentrating on sculpture, Demand soon turned to constructing architectural models out of paper and cardboard, which he then photographed or filmed to make astonishing, yet enigmatic, large-scale images and projections. Vault, 2012, depicts a storage vault for artworks. The eye moves within this still picture like a camera slowly travelling forward. The anonymity of the place and the impossibility of identifying the paintings leaning on the walls and stacked in small clusters on the floor create an atmosphere of secrecy, of restricted access and, ultimately, of discovery of missing or stolen artworks. Closely connected to the museum reality, the work conjures up questions of provenance, legitimacy and authenticity.
 

Tags: Thomas Demand