Silent Studio: The Fragmented Identity of Mark Manders
“Under this mask, another mask. I will never be finished removing all these faces.”
This quote from Claude Cahun came to mind as we entered “Silent Studio”, Mark Manders’ exhibition at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, open from October 31, 2024, to March 16, 2025. Like Cahun, Manders explores identity as something layered and undefined, constructing a self-portrait that resists capture in a single image.
Manders, known for his long-term project “Self-Portrait as a Building”, transforms the Foundation’s space into an imaginary and silent studio, where each sculpture becomes a fragment of this complex self-portrait. Here, the visitor is enveloped by enigmatic visions and materials, as if entering an alternative version of an artist’s studio, a mental space where logic gives way to intuition, and sculpture becomes a visual language full of questions without definitive answers.
The installation itself becomes an integral part of the narrative: a semi-labyrinthine structure of wooden planks on the floor and semi-transparent curtains that wind through the Foundation’s spaces. Walking between these ethereal walls, the visitor finds themselves immersed in a suspended environment, an atelier poised between reality and fiction. This “fragile” architecture reflects the emotional and creative state of the artist, a place both intimate and alienating, where every corner seems to invite introspection and discovery.
At the heart of Manders’ practice is an exploration of the self-portrait, but in an expanded and impersonal sense: his sculptures do not aim to convey a defined identity but rather fragments and glimpses of a universal, ever-changing self. In “Silent Studio”, over twenty works, including sculptures, installations, and objects made from bronze, steel, iron, paper, and paint, are arranged as clues to a non-linear narrative. Each piece seems to exist on the boundary between the material and the immaterial, between weight and lightness: massive, solid forms like bronze simulate the fragility of clay, and the presence of clayey soil scattered throughout enhances the illusion, generating a feeling of transience and decay.
Manders plays with the perception of time: his sculptures, many of which were created over decades, seem to belong to an undefined, suspended past, as if they were rediscovered from another era and brought here to be contemplated in an eternal present. Through the choice of durable materials and, at the same time, finishes that evoke decomposition, Manders creates a visual narrative that invites visitors to confront their own ideas of stability and ephemerality. It feels as though we are in front of relics of an identity in constant transformation, pieces that defy any single interpretation and open up a space for multiple meanings.
In “Silent Studio”, the use of materials like transparent plastic helps to create a suspended scene, where each sculpture appears trapped in a dimension of fragility. The semi-transparent curtains that separate the works in the space suggest an incomplete, filtered perception, as though the studio is partly hidden and partly revealed. This play of transparency not only fragments the view but amplifies the sense of indefiniteness and precariousness, inviting the visitor to explore the unfinished and the invisible hidden behind every surface.
Mark Manders’ sculptural approach dialogues with the tradition of artists like Alberto Giacometti and Louise Bourgeois, who used sculpture to investigate identity and the self. Like them, Manders uses the medium to build fragments of an inner reality, but he goes further: his works seem deliberately unfinished, creating a tension between the stability of the material and the mutability of the subject. This conceptual use of sculpture makes each piece an exploration of a multiple and undefined identity, transforming the medium into a language of self-reflection.
Sculpture becomes an autonomous “language“: Manders’ works are “visual words” that, like a text without order, connect to create a sculptural grammar. There is no linear logic; each piece is part of a story that remains open-ended, unfolding through impressions. Like fragments of an imagined building, every piece invites the viewer to explore a new facet of identity, a “room” that reveals, without ever fully explaining, the artist’s thoughts and intentions.
Manders’ concept of creating a self-portrait through space, rather than a figurative image, becomes an invitation for the visitor to explore their own way of inhabiting the world. In the dimly lit studio, the viewer is prompted to reflect not only on their own image but also on the many identities they construct throughout their life. This dialogue between matter and meaning, between presence and absence, transforms the exhibition into a silent meditation, an experience that extends beyond the gallery and lingers in the mind like a dreamlike memory.
At the end of the visit, one feels as if they have traversed a symbolic and spiritual landscape, a place that reminds us of our vulnerability and the beauty of transience. Silent Studio leaves us with a sense of subtle unease, as though we have glimpsed a hidden truth, impossible to fully grasp. The journey through Manders’ universe never quite concludes but follows us, prompting us to question what it truly means to construct a self-portrait and how much of ourselves remains in every trace, in every fragment of our existence.
Mark Manders (born 1968 in Volkel, Netherlands; lives and works in Ronse, Belgium) has received awards such as the Philip Morris Art Prize (2002) and the prestigious Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize for Art (2010). He has been the subject of retrospectives like *The Absence of Mark Manders* at Kunstverein Hannover; S.M.A.K., Ghent; Kunsthaus Zürich; and Bergen Kunsthall (2007-09), as well as *Parallel Occurrences / Documented Assignments* at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas (2010-12). Other major solo exhibitions include presentations at the Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia (2014); Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela (2014); Carré d’Art – Musée d’art contemporain, Nîmes (2012); Carrillo Gil Museum of Art, Mexico City (2011); and La Casa Luis Barragán, Mexico City (2011). In 2013, Mark Manders represented the Netherlands at the Venice Biennale; he was also featured in the Ateliers de Rennes (2016), the Athens Biennale (2007), Manifesta (2004), and the Venice Biennale (2001). His works have been exhibited at institutions such as the Guggenheim Museum, New York; MoMA, New York; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; ICA, Philadelphia; The Art Institute of Chicago; Louvre, Paris; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; and Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, among others. His works are part of the permanent collections of The Art Institute of Chicago; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; MoMA, New York; MoCA, Los Angeles; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; and Kunsthaus Zürich, as well as the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, among others.
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