Thomas Demand – Nationalgalerie
Thomas Demand’s work (*1964) lures the viewer into a reality that is not what it appears to be. His images present scenes of political and social events, which the artist recreates out of paper and cardboard, in a scale that is true to the original size of the setting. Demand then photographs these sculptures, creating images in which specific traces of the events and the protagonists are removed, leaving possible evidence of a “crime scene”, one which appears familiar but yet out of reach.
The exhibition and book Nationalgalerie brings together Demand’s work of the last 15 years which is rooted in German imagery. Demand examines the “Deutschlandbild”, the ‘German image’ in photographs from a variety of scenarios in the post-war period. From a selection both known and new of key images of decisive political events and private moments Demand offers a kaleidoscopic vision of a society.