Thomas Demand, Escalator, 2000. © Thomas Demand, VG Bild Kunst, Bonn / VEGAP, Madrid

MADRID.- PHotoEspaña and Fundación Telefónica organise the first individual exhibition by Thomas Demand in Spain with 22 photographs and 5 videos and films Demand comes to Madrid after his anthologies at MoMA
and the Prada Foundation with recent works

Thomas Demand’s work is strongly linked to his training in sculpture. He usually works with pre-existing images of a historical nature, which he turns into life-size paper and cardboard models that he then photographs and destroys. Demand offers a clean, clear view of reality. His rigorous, formal technique reflects on the image’s role, which in his works ranges from the documentary to staging. The exhibition contains pieces from the Poll series (2001), a reconstruction of one of the voting centres in Florida where a count was taken during the controversial American presidential election in 2000; Yellowcake (2007), ten images that explore Niger’s embassy in Rome where documents that the U.S. government used to justify the Iraq invasion were supposedly found; and Tavern (2006), a work about a bar in the German town of Burbach where a boy was killed by a gang of friends. Furthermore, the videos Camera and Rain – the latter has not been shown before – and the 35-mm films Recorder (2002), Tunnel (1999) and Escalator (2000) are included and prove the growing importance of audiovisual elements in Demand’s artistic production.

Since his first solo exhibition in 1992, Thomas Demand (Munich, Germany, 1964) has shown works in major art centres such as the MoMA in New York, Tate Britain in London, the Centre Pompidou in París and the MACBA in Barcelona. In 2003 he won an award at Les Rencontres d’Arles and in 2004 he represented his country at the São Paulo Biennial.

Thomas Demand, Poll, 2001. Helga de Alvear Collection, Madrid. © Thomas Demand, VG Bild Kunst, Bonn / VEGAP, Madrid