Mark Manders | CI08 Life on Mars

Born: 1968, Volkel, The Netherlands
Lives and Works: Arnhem, NL, and Ronse, Belgium

Since 1986, Mark Manders has been engaged in an ongoing project he refers to as "Self-Portrait as a Building," mapping his artistic persona through site-specific renegotiations of physical materials in space. Taking the shape of sculptures, installations, and drawings, these subtle rearrangements of existing and invented forms fuse specific and seemingly incongruous elements--figures, animals, archaeological fragments, everyday objects, and architectural components--into a new visual language. Room with Clothes, Belt and Contact Lenses (1992-2008) is the title of a sculptural installation consisting of multiple works. In the largest work, Continuous Livingroom Scene (2007-2008), two figures appear split down the middle and arranged with wooden beams and plates, while a third, abstracted figurative "fragment" is discernible only by its mop of hair. Chair (2003) is a "found" object as its title suggests, while Assignment (2008) is an odd accumulation of the artist's clothes, shoes, contact lenses, and money. Also on view Fox/Mouse/Belt (1992) is a poignant floor sculpture of two incongruous beings arrested mid-leap. Bound together by a leather belt and placed on the floor, the animals are frozen in an indeterminable moment in time. Within each object and from one installation to the next, Manders expresses the potential for symbiotic relationships between disconnected or opposing parts.

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Life on Mars, the 2008 Carnegie International

Widely known as one of the pre-eminent international surveys of contemporary art in the world, the Carnegie International was founded at the behest of industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1896. With the Venice Biennale, the Carnegie International is the oldest such exhibition in the world. Titled "Life on Mars", the 2008 Carnegie International will focus on the increasingly relevant question of what it means to be human in the world today. The exhibition presents work by 40 artists who investigate particular aspects of the human condition, moving along paths that are both introspective and worldly while poetically traversing the dramatic spectrum from tragedy to comedy.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Art
• Carnegie
• International
• CI08
• Museum
• Carnegie-International

[thomaskroach]

Yayayaya!

[todtnaubergconnectio]

When i visited berlin biennale in 2006, i kept in mind this humid-clay looking human figure, it seemed to be still under construction, framed by this "grundriss" made by writing-pencils, stuff,

it was a weird unearthly feeling, percepting this. I like this frozen time. the irritation of the dimensions of space. the alienation for the subjectis also caused by this slight changes of size, the objects are no longer in the same world, you as subject cant use them anymore-like behindsth incapable

[Tekknorg]

Mr. Manders you were (and are) my favorite artist during Documenta XI. Your works combine psychology, object / subject transformation, altering of chronological levels and meanings, mixed with Kafka atmosphere and Lem's Solaris philosophy. I've got three books full of your works, for ex. the one published by HK. If I would have the money I would buy your works. But this will remain a dream. regards,

T.