Martin Boyce Spook School, 2016

The series Spook School consists of 21 photographs and depicts the interior of the burnt Glasgow School of Art: a building, constructed 1897-1909 by the famous Scottish Art Nouveau architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, which in its simplicity is considered an icon of the early 20th century’s architecture. During a fire in May 2014 it was heavily damaged. Having studied there, Boyce was granted access to the building and took pictures of the rooms.

Martin Boyce’s photographic works are to be understood as echoes of his sculptures. Spook School is a further development of A Partial Eclipse (2012), which came to existence almost incidentally during travels: with views out of a car, from a hotel room’s window or on the street Boyce addressed situations of urban design – park benches, hotel facades, courtyards – and filtered out the light, giving his photographs the mysterious character typical of his sculptural work.