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Model Spaces
In 1989, when we were studying at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, we found
ourselves in a situation that forced us to question the art practice. We were
under the impression that a work of art seemed to be primarily a strategic
instrument guaranteeing the continuity of the institutionalised art
establishments. New artworks had to be shown every month, and production had
to be kept up. The journals gave the most extensive and favourable reports to
those galleries and art institutions buying big expensive pages of
advertisements in their magazine. The so-called new and interesting seemed to
be strongly intertwined with mutual commercial interest. We concluded that the
art world was a generative system maintaining itself.
Twelve photographs taken from different art magazines served as a starting
point for the project that reflects this issue. They give a view of a gallery
or museum space where works of art are exhibited. Omitting the art works, the
depicted rooms have been mapped by means of perspective analysis. Based on
these drawings, 3-dimensional reconstructions could be made. This has resulted
in twelve architectural maquettes, each representing a section of an exhibition
room. These tabletop sections of rooms are detailed down to every discernible
element. Each one has its own lighting system.
The models represent only half of the project. The other half consists of an
insert in an art magazine, consisting of two full-colour pages.
Each of the pages represent six empty exhibition rooms. For this purpose, each
maquette has been photographed from one particular point of view, similar to
the original photographs in the magazines. The pages were published in
Artcribe #84 in November 1990. The magazine served as a catalogue to the
exhibition of the models in Museum Fodor in November 1990.
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