Since 1986, Dutch artist Mark Manders (born 1968) has been developing an ongoing project titled Self-Portrait as a Building. Taking the form of sculptures, installations, drawings and projections, these works map Manders’’ artistic persona through the conceptual model of a built edifice, in the fashion of the Renaissance memory theater. Inspired by writings on this subject and by other literature, Manders’’ earliest works in this project were primarily written, but over time, Manders found ways to deploy everyday three-dimensional objects–epoxy figures, animals, teabags, pencils, household furniture–to build a portrait of his own mind as an architectural space. As the artist explains, “this imaginary building, being composed of discrete objects, can shrink or expand at any moment. In this building, all words created by mankind are on hand.” This publication accompanies the first North American touring exhibition of Manders’’ work.
