Mandla Reuter

With the most different mediums, Mandla Reuter produces a clear, skeletal model of the uncountable processes of show business. He frees the industrial magic from narrative contents; for these contents are ultimately arbitrary and the basic observation of industry entertainment shows that they are downright restricting…

scale model space journey – 1

Mandla Reuter’s Pictures is the transformation of a private flat in Madrid into a cinema showing current mainstream movies, which at the same time are also running in blockbuster theatres in Madrid and elsewhere, worldwide. A large light sign on the building’s façade announces the movie being screened, connecting the interior of the flat-turned-movie theatre with the exterior of the city.

Time Has Ceased Space Has Vanished

Reuter’s ambivalent attitude towards the material he appropriates can be framed by Jacques Derrida’s hybrid term ‘hostipitalité’ which denotes an unconditional hospitality that plays on the fact that ‘hospitality’ and ‘hostility’ comes from the same root, ‘hospis’. Based on openness, on total hospitality and inclusiveness, Reuter’s project also becomes a public arena where democratic sentiments can be played out – in peaceful as well as potentially antagonistic ways…