For his project Personal Installation Manfred Gruebl used groups of eight men dressed in the all black “uniform” of typical urban gallery-goers to pose motionless amongst the crowds of attendees at three public functions. Only once the crowds thinned out at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the Saatchi Gallery in London and the lobby of the Lincoln Center in NY could the installation be taken for such. In Berlin the constellation took on an even more architectural feel as part of the group was posted outside the building, but still in eye contact with the rest, through the glass façade. The viewer becomes part of the installation, an ever-changing work as visitors move through the space. An interesting way to counteract the buzz that surrounds this sort of crowd scene and certainly a thought-provoking way to examine one’s own use of personal space and public conduct.

Artist: Manfred Gruebl
+ gruebl.org