Conceptual Artist Thomas Demand Turns Cardboard Into Revelations — His MFAH Show Challenges Conventional History

The 21st century is already marked by questions about artificial intelligence, algorithms and the nature of reality versus irreality. Conceptual artist Thomas Demand’s work navigates these themes as an exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston shows. He explores alternate realities and reconstructed histories, drawing inspiration from the decisive moment captured by French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Demand’s unique approach involves recreating historically significant scenes using cardboard and colored paper models. He then photographs the scenes, often devoid of human presence, before destroying the ephemeral creations. What remains is a kind of new historical document, open to interpretation and analysis.

Thomas Demand: The Stutter of History, on view through September 15 at the MFAH, challenges viewers to question history itself. As the only United States venue for this touring exhibition, originally curated by Douglas Fogle, the Houston iteration is curated by Malcolm Daniel.

Demand, a German-born artist who divides his time between Berlin and Los Angeles, often blurs the lines between past, present and the eternal. His photograph Ruin (2017) depicts the aftermath of a missile attack in Gaza, capturing the devastation of war. The power of the photo lies in its timelessness — seven years later, it still resonates with the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine.

Reconstructing the Past Through Sculpture

Initially trained in sculpture at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Thomas Demand brings a sculptor’s precision to his reconstructions of history. He often interrogates the past by confronting its darker side. For example, Archive (1995) depicts the film archives of Leni Riefenstahl, the controversial filmmaker-turned-Nazi propagandist. Nearby, Diving Board (1994) alludes to Riefenstahl’s early career in sports, creating a juxtaposition that evokes Ray Müller’s documentary The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (1993).

Demand draws from art history to craft his narratives. In Vault (2012), he reimagines a storeroom scene from the Wildenstein Institute in Paris. A 2011 police raid there uncovered at least 30 looted artworks, including pieces by Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot and Édouard Manet. The story grew more complex when it was revealed that some of the artworks had been stolen from Jewish families by the Nazis.

Another work, Atelier (2014), reimagines Henri Matisse’s studio at the Hôtel Régina in Nice, France. Multicolored paper cut-outs are scattered across the wooden floor. From 1949 until his death in 1954, the French Fauvist painter created paper cut-outs. By focusing on this period, Demand pays tribute to Matisse’s later career.

Several of Thomas Demand’s works capture historical moments that may have faded from collective memory but still resonate. For example, Poll (2001) addresses the 2000 election, revisiting the issue of paper ballots and hanging chads. Demand describes his use of paper as embodying a “kind of weird, paradoxical idea that a piece of paper is becoming representative of a piece of paper.”

One of Demand’s key works, Control Room (2011), revisits a major tragedy. It recaptures the disaster scene at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after the March 2011 accident. The work highlights how both short-term and long-term memory store images and information from the past. Some images are seared into memory, while others require revisiting for context.

“Thomas Demand: The Stutter of History” is on view through September 15 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Learn more here.