PASSENGERS: Kris Martin

The Belgian artist Kris Martin addresses through his work the thought that life can only be recognized at the edge of death. One of his best-known pieces is Mandi III (2003), which was included in the 3rd Berlin Biennale. It is a black train station departure board that flips at random but displays no characters or numbers, thus putting the viewer's daily transits into a broader perspective by indicating that there is, in the end, only one destination. The works on display in the Passengers group exhibition include My Days Are Counted (2005), a tally of all the days that have passed from the artist's birth until today. The list is actively maintained on the gallery wall, creating visual evidence of the artist's existence and its overlap with our own lives. Martin's work often draws attention to temporality and, in the centuries-long tradition of the memento mori, provokes viewers to remember death's inevitability. Rather than being ominous or morbid, however, it reflects the fragility of life with poignant simplicity. Still Alive (2005), a silver-plated bronze skull with dimensions exactly matching those of the artist's skull, simulates the experience of standing outside one's own body after death. And Golden Spike (2005), a solid gold spike now permanently installed in the gallery floor, refers to the instrument of the same name that geologists use to mark stratigraphic sections for future geologists.

The Exhibition Formerly Known as Passengers:
2.2 Kris Martin