Martin Boyce, For 1959 Capital Avenue, 2002 © Martin Boyce, photo: Axel Schneider
Martin Boyce, For 1959 Capital Avenue, 2002 © Martin Boyce, photo: Axel Schneider

Martin Boyce

THE DORNBRACHT INSTALLATION PROJECTS®

The Dornbracht Installation Projects© is the name given to the collaboration between the MUSEUMMMK and the Dornbracht corporation (www.statements.de), the renowned Iserlohn-based maker of high-end bathroom fittings.

Initially scheduled for four years, the program features support each year for a specific position in contemporary art displayed in the installation area. Moreover, Dornbracht will be generously supporting the MMK collection by enabling the purchase of a work by each invited artist. The first artist the MMK invited to take part was Martin Boyce (born 1967), who lives in Glasgow. The Dornbracht Installation Projects thus gave Boyce the opportunity to hold his first large solo show in Germany. The artist, much discussed in international circles, investigates and interprets Modernist design fragments in the manner of an archaeologist or anthropologist, often taking up the design and material repertoires of important architects and designers.

"We enter the foyer of 1959 Capital Avenue through two huge, completely sliding doors. The air-conditioned iced interior chills me instantly, causing me to physically shudder. Inside we are directed to one of two groups of four chairs to wait." (Martin Boyce)

"1959 Capital Avenue" is likewise the fictional address of the foyer Martin Boyce set up in the main hall/room of the MMK. A large, expansive curtain, impressive chairs, glass tables and ash-trays welcomed the visitor to an atmosphere of cool elegance. However, the sculptural and graphic character of Boyce's "furnishings" transformed the location into a utopia, a place that looks out onto a distant sea of clouds. Through his invocations of Modernist art, Boyce calls to mind those past visions of a better future while simultaneously presenting this future as something that has yet to happen.

Exhibition

13 September 2002 — 21 April 2003

MUSEUMMMK

Domstraße 10
60311 Frankfurt am Main


mmk@stadt-frankfurt.de
+49 69 212 30447