mike bouchet, 'new living'
schirn kunsthalle frankfurt
on now until september 12th, 2010

'sir walter scott, 2010' by mike bouchet at the schirn kunsthalle frankfurt
image courtesy of galerie parisa kind and mike bouchet
photograph by norbert migueltz


at the 2009 venice biennale, american artist mike bouchet created 'watershed', a floating
sculpture of a two-storey suburban american family home set against the contrasting background
of venetian architecture. it was only by chance that the house experienced a leak in one
of the flotation pontoons and sank to the bottom of the canal, creating a highly memorable
performance during the opening of the biennale.

although accidental in nature, this event shifted the sculpture into a completely different piece of art.
by the end of the biennale, the artist became interested in the idea of transforming a 'finished' object
into a new form by means of re-ordering and sculptural editing.

as the main backbone to his 'new living' exhibition at the schirn kunsthalle frankfurt, 'sir walter scott'
is a kind of epilogue to 'watershed'. armed with a chainsaw, the house was chopped and divided
into the basic forms in which the materials arrived during construction--15 minimal cubic piles
of stacked timber set on carpets. the new group of sculptures explore many themes and complexities
such as the dimensions of a house in raw materials, the temporality of architecture, the characterization
of garbage, and the significance of the piece in its original form and its aftermath.



image courtesy of galerie parisa kind and mike bouchet
photograph by norbert migueltz



image courtesy of galerie parisa kind and mike bouchet
photograph by norbert migueltz



image courtesy of galerie parisa kind and mike bouchet
photograph by norbert migueltz



image courtesy of galerie parisa kind and mike bouchet
photograph by norbert migueltz



image courtesy of galerie parisa kind and mike bouchet
photograph by norbert migueltz



image courtesy of galerie parisa kind and mike bouchet
photograph by norbert migueltz



image courtesy of galerie parisa kind and mike bouchet
photograph by norbert migueltz



'watershed' installation at la biennale di venezia, 2009
image courtesy of galerie parisa kind and mike bouchet
photograph by shane munro



'watershed' deconstruction
image courtesy of galerie parisa kind and mike bouchet
photograph by shane munro