Martin Boyce, We Are Fragile and Unstoppable. We Appear and Disappear, 2004
Powder coated steel
Courtesy Johnen + Schöttle, Cologne
We Are Fragile and Unstoppable. We Appear and Disappear2004 The sculptural work of Martin Boyce refers both to a physical, urban landscape and to a visionary one that is yet to exist. He often borrows from Modernist design history, from archetypes of certain periods that evoke an idea of democratic utopia, from a collective memory of mass-produced design. His core interest is how objects come into the world, the ethos and politics with which they were produced, and what happens to them as they travel through time and space. Boyce places his sculptures ? which take the form of rubbish bins, abstracted tree shapes, or shiny black city fences ? in new settings and with this displacement creates imaginary locations and alternative landscapes. The estranged objects in Boyce?s installations seem to lack a suitable place and time, becoming lost, public props on an empty stage. In his work, everything is in motion, its dislocation highlighting the failed functionality of modern design.
Works in the exhibition: We Are Fragile and Unstoppable. We Appear and Disappear, 2004, powder coated steel Into This Shadow, 2005, powder coated steel, Jacobsen series 7 chair part, shoe lace
