Martin Boyce

The objects in Martin Boyce’s latest exhibition speak a common language. There are power supply jacks, light switches, and lampshades on the walls of the first of two rooms here. In between, three fireplaces framed in Art Deco–style moldings open their mouths onto small nightmarish stages in Same Day, Same Place as Always, and Same Time as Before (all works 2015). Meanwhile, a cube of thick bronze (Dead Star [Yellow]) and an equally plain white-painted chair (The Wacher) wait in vain for their purpose. Like the electrical equipment lacking electricity and light bulbs, the chair lacks a seat as well as backrest cushions.

The epic title of the show, “Inside Rooms Drift In and Out of Sleep / While on the Roof / An Alphabet of Aerials / Search for a Language,” interprets a connecting narrative in the following space. There, one encounters ten powerfully swollen chimneys made of Jesmonite, each with small sheet-metal roofs and television antennas reaching to the ceiling (While on the Roof 1–11)—as if they might strike up Mary Poppins’s “Chim Chim Cher-ee” at any moment. Once again, the visitor notices a chair (No Wind in the Trees) and a ceiling lamp (Dead Star [Faded Palms]), which appear like guests who have wandered astray from the galleries. Do the works serve as reminders that the visitor is only tolerated here for a short while, as a stranger among strangers? Boyce’s staging suggests this interpretation. The grammar of his magical world, however, won’t be decoded for a long time. The visitor adjusts his antennae to Boyce’s enchanting scene with pleasure.

Translated from German by Diana Reese.