Artist Thomas Demand to discuss work Sept. 14

German artist and photographer Thomas Demand will discuss his work at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 14, as part of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ fall Public Lecture Series.

The talk is held in conjunction with the exhibition Precarious Worlds: Contemporary Art from Germany, which opens at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9.

The exhibition examines how contemporary artists have responded both to the sweeping changes marking German life since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and to the sweeping effects of digital culture and technology.

Precarious Worlds also highlights a group of recent acquisitions made possible by a gift from the David Woods Kemper Memorial Foundation. Among these is Demand’s Shed (2006), which the artist created by first constructing, then photographing and destroying, a life-size paper model of a laundry room, thus unmooring the final image from any original source.

Born in Munich in 1964, Demand studied at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich; Kunstakademie Düsseldorf; and Goldsmiths College, London. His work has been seen in more than 50 one-person and dozens of group exhibitions around the world. He lives and works in Berlin and Los Angeles and is currently a Getty Scholar at the Getty Research Institute.

Demand’s lecture is free and open to the public and will take place in Steinberg Hall Auditorium, located immediately adjacent to the Kemper Art Museum, near the intersection of Skinker and Forsyth boulevards. A reception for Demand will precede the lecture, at 6 p.m.

For more information, call (314) 935-9300 or visit samfoxschool.wustl.edu or kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu.

Additional museum events

Also opening Sept. 9 will be Tomás Saraceno: Cloud-Specific, which features new and recent works by the acclaimed Argentine artist. On Oct. 5, Saraceno will discuss his work as part of the Sam Fox School’s Public Lecture Series. In addition, on Oct. 27, the Kemper Art Museum will host a panel discussion, titled “A Sustainable Future,” examining some of the conceptual issues raised by Saraceno’s wide-ranging, cross-disciplinary practice.

Other fall events will include an all-ages Community Day, featuring tours, music, snacks and public workshops, on Sept. 24. On Oct. 20, the museum will screen the documentary !Women Art Revolution (2010) — which features interviews with a number of influential feminist artists — as part of the Sam Fox School’s ongoing Multiple Feminisms Lecture Series. On Nov. 3, Sabine Eckmann, the William T. Kemper Director and Chief Curator of the Kemper Art Museum, will host a gallery talk about Precarious Worlds.

Finally, on Dec. 6, 7 and 8, the Kemper Art Museum will present its Cities of the Future Film Series, which revists themes raised in Tomás Saraceno’s work. Screenings will take place at the Tivoli Theatre, 6350 Delmar Blvd., and will include Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), Jacques Tati’s Playtime (1967) and Douglas Trumbull’s Silent Running (1971).

All events are free and open to the public. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays; and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The museum is closed Tuesdays.

Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum

The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, part of Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, is committed to furthering critical thinking and visual literacy through a vital program of exhibitions, publications and accompanying events. The museum dates back to 1881, making it the oldest art museum west of the Mississippi River. Today it boasts one of the finest university collections in the United States.