Reimagining boundaries in a time of Donald Trump
Gerhard Marx repurposes old maps to create new forms and pictures in his exhibition Ecstatic Archive
Boundaries are difficult and far-reaching things. They can be fictional and concrete, intrinsic and ethereal. In addition to their geographical and political presence, they can find grounding in our minds, on our screens, and on maps. In the work of Gerhard Marx, boundaries are picked apart, repurposed, and reimagined. Currently on show at Johannesburg’s Goodman gallery, Ecstatic Archive is Marx’s latest body of work for the gallery and refers to a series of archives he’s been working with over the past two years. This archive comprises of maps — many, many maps — that come from two main sources. The first was a collection of decommissioned geographic, geological, and political maps from the past two centuries which were set to be pulped before Marx received a tip-off from a friend and subsequently scooped up the whole lot. The other source consists of sentimental maps donated by various individuals looking to get rid of them, but not being able to bear the thought of discarding the...
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