The Fall 2026 Graduate Art guest lecture series, organized by Jan Tumlir and Jack Bankowsky.

Thomas Demand

This event is offsite and closed to the public.

Born in 1964 in Munich, Thomas Demand is known for his large-scale photographs, depicting motifs from mass-media images or from his personal archive, reconstructed life-size from paper and cardboard. He initially focused on sculpture, using photography to document his paper and cardboard reconstructions. In 1990, however, photography and sculpture traded places in his artistic process; the photograph became the artwork. Ultimately, Demand strives to overturn the notion of photography as an inevitably objective or truthful medium, exploring the gap between reality and its representation.

Demand has held solo exhibitions at major museums and galleries worldwide, such as: MAK, Vienna (2026); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2024); Jeu de Paume, Paris (2023); UCCA Edge, Shanghai (2022); Garage Moscow, Moscow (2021); Fondazione Prada, Venice (2017); DHC Art Center, Montréal (2013); MOT Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (2012); Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2010); Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2009); Serpentine Gallery, London (2006); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2005); Kunsthaus Bregenz (2004); and Fondation Cartier in Paris (2001).

Demand represented Germany at the 26th Sao Paulo Biennale (2004), the Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, and was numerous times part of the Venice Biennale (2003, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2017). He has also curated shows, including: Passants parmi les pierres, FJK3, Vienna (2026); The Object Lesson, The Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney (2025/2026); local talent, Sprüth Magers, Berlin (2020); The Boat is Leaking. The Captain Lied, Fondazione Prada, Venice (2017); Model Studies, Graham Foundation, Chicago (2013); and a contribution to the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale, Common Ground (2012).

Demand’s work is represented in numerous museums and collections, among these: Museum of Modern Art, New York; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Glenstone, Potomac; Centre Pompidou, Paris; The Collection of the Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation, Schaulager, Basel; Louisiana Museum of Moderne Kunst, Humlebaek; Castello di Rivoli, Turin; and Tate Modern, London.

The artist lives and works in Berlin and Los Angeles.

Image: Kontrollraum / Control Room by Thomas Demand. Courtesy of the artists.

See the full Fall 2026 Seminar schedule here.

Support for this series is generously provided by the following: Jack Shear, Brenda R. Potter, Brendan Dugan, Lisson Gallery, Beth Rudin DeWoody, David Kordansky, Jeffrey Deitch, Gattopardo, Tara Walters, Alan Hergott, and an anonymous donor.

ArtCenter's Graduate Art program is based on intensive studio practice and rigorous academic coursework. The program is distinguished by its low faculty-to-student ratio that provides students with the attention and feedback they need to refine and achieve their artistic goals. Faculty and students are artists working in all genres—film, video, photography, painting, sculpture, performance and installation. A significant number of alumni have achieved national and international acclaim and often return to share their insights and expertise as visiting faculty and guest lecturers.