Thomas Demand Reggia d'Apollo XIII, 2026

Thomas Demand's Reggia d'Apollo XVI is part of his ongoing series of Model Studies, for which Demand turns away from photographing his own self-built paper and cardboard constructions and instead depicts models made by other artists, architects, and designers. Model Studies VI draws on historical theatrical models held in the collections of the Theatermuseum Vienna, the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, and the German Theater Museum Munich. Using a periscope, Demand brings the camera into close proximity with the maquettes turning them into near abstract formations.

This work draws on a stage design by Lorenzo Sacchetti for the Reggia d'Apollo from 1781. A pigment print on paper, the work presents a vertical interior view through layered architectural forms. Arched openings recede into depth, their edges ragged and unfinished, while a small figure stands silhouetted in the middle ground. The palette — deep amber, burnt orange, ochre — carries the quality of raking stage light. The periscope compresses the model's spatial recession into a single plane, bringing foreground columns, torn paper edges, and figure together.