PETER DOWNSBROUGH

October 27, 2011 to November 19, 2011

Peter Downsbrough's black and white photographs both neutralize and refresh our view of the urban landscape - peripheral or central, residential or industrial neighborhoods; here, architectural spaces are transformed into sites where one can experience an altered perception of time and space, a perception that finds its three-dimensional counterpart in Downsbrough's other work - in this case, a room and a wall piece. The artist book AS SET will be published on the occasion.

Opening: Oct. 26 th, 7 p.m, PLATFORM3.

Exhibition: Oct 27th -Nov 19th, Mo-Sa 11 11 a.m -7 p.m; We 12 a.m- 8 p.m. On view are a new series of photgraphs shot in Munich as well as a Room Piece.

Publication: The book "AS SET" (free limited edition) will be published on this occasion.

Film screening: Oct. 27th, 7 p.m, Filmmuseum München, St. Jakobsplatz 1. A selection of recent work will be on view. Introduction to the artist's work by curator Moritz Küng.

Since the 1960s, Peter Downsbrough has been one of the leading figures in the field of conceptual art. At the core of his explorations are space and the relationship between architecture, language and typography. Besides being featured at documenta 6, Downsborough’s sculptures, interventions, photographs, films and books have been celebrated in a number of international exhibitions in the last several years. The artist’s first artistic dialogue with Munich took place twenty years ago, with his work "Open Column" for the Glyptothek, followed by a series of photographs of the city published in the local newspaper Abendzeitung. PLATFORM3 is delighted to welcome Peter Downsborough back to Munich in 2011.

In the context of this commissioned project, he is exploring the city’s urban periphery starting out from our site in Obersendling. The artist’s photographic research and his walking expeditions of the city have resulted in a series of twenty-five photographs accompanied by a film, in which urban space is portrayed as an entity that is not only structured in and of itself, but that also enforces structure on its members. Seen through Downsborough’s lens, both the architecture in its physical mass and form as well as the city’s linear gridlike space exude a formal austerity: Here is a city formed by aesthetic habits and architectural order, a city that is both a construct as well as a system that actively imposes order. Its flow is tightly controlled, its procedures are closely regulated. The exhibition space itself is also part of this examination.

Peter Downsbrough’s site-specific installation Room Piece acts as a counterpart to his photographs, designating the PLATFORM3 venue as a ‚legible’ space. A grid made of words, of adverbs describing time and space, covers the walls of the exhibition gallery and opens up new physical and associative ways for the observer to experience this locale. Peter Downsborough has been featured in Munich a number of times, first with his project "Open Column" commissioned by the Glyptothek München (1991), followed by his series of photographs of the city that were published in the local newspaper AZ (Abendzeitung) in the 1990s. Most recently, the artist’s work was included in an exhibition on the conceptual art collector Herman Daled at the Haus der Kunst (05/2010). This one-man exhibition brings the international artist back to Munich.  

See the video recording of Moritz Küng's presentation of Peter Downsbrough's work recorded on Oct, 27th, 2011. (in German language)