Description:

Published to coincide with the Australian artist’s survey exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Nicholas Mangan: A World Undone showcases works created by an artist pushing sculpture to new limits. The exhibition traces a distinct passage of Mangan’s work from 2009 to 2023, in which he adopted a new mode of what he calls “material storytelling”. The exhibition presents eight “projects” from this period. Each of the eight projects involves an “assemblage” of elements (objects, moving images, machines, images) that draw attention to the various forces (material, historical, economic) that have led to their creation. Furthermore each of Mangan’s research projects produces an avalanche of images, documents and objects. In the exhibition itself, however, the curators have carefully selected only a few elements for each project – this is where the publication steps in to complement the exhibition... The publications showcases everything not displayed in the exhibition, separating the eight project with only minimal editorial interventions. This approach turns the book into one giant Mangan assemblage. However, the introductory essay section of the book provides a counterbalance. Here, the texts are accompanied by meticulous documentation of Mangan's work, placed precisely where referenced in the text, almost like side-notes. This allows readers to engage with Mangan's work either intuitively through the assemblage section or in a more detailed and focused manner through the study section.