Martin Boyce

Telephone Booth Conversations (III), 2006

For his exhibition ‘We Are the Breeze’ at Galerie Johnen Berlin in 2010 Boyce constructed an imaginary landscape, “the archetype of a desolate space between park and lobby. With allusions to film sets, Boyce situated just enough clues towards an intuitive recognition within the interplay of few, but crucial motifs. For example, Telephone Booth Conversations (III), the reminiscence of a telephone booth, contributes to such a relaxed definition of public space. At the same time, in the age of the private cell phone, the phone booth serves as a symbol for its own disappearance. Boyce’s citations are like a returning ghost, condensations of the collective memory. Rather than serve as critique, they evoke melancholy recollections linked to their originals. Boyce is less interested in the failure of their central ideas than in their continuing potential and the question of whether these earlier ideas and ideals still remain relevant for us today.”