The Sceptical Structures of Max
For this installation, Beckett shines light on engineer/entrepreneur Max Himmelheber, and his rather ill fated contribution toward the fledgling environmental movement – namely chipboard. The work outlines various iterations of the material through time, as basis for a more sinister investigation into its contemporary presence. Beckett is known for his projects concerning industrial and architectural histories, often incorporating artefact toward absurd and romantic results.
Chipboard is an ingenious material originally made using waste material from sawmills, bound with phenol resin. Himmelheber approached the use of these materials in the spirit of frugality and economy, which resulted in a highly versatile, supposedly stable product. Chipboard now accounts for 80% of the material in furniture produced globally, and has spawned a love-hate relationship due its disposability, and more recently discovered environmental impacts.
With the management of patents, Himmelheber amassed a fortune, turned recluse and shifted his attention to a set of philosophical reflections on man’s role in the industrialized world.
The proliferation of his factories around the world meant he would spend much time in Japan, exposure that sparked a long-term interest in Shintoism and Animism. Back in his hometown, he commissioned architect Karl Nothhelfer to build an oriental inspired villa, a modernist hybrid translating his fantasies to home – essentially an eclectic bastardization of traditional Japanese forms.
Beckett’s installation draws from such idiosyncrasies of Himmelheber’s biography, along with various products of the material itself. There is, for example, a visible decay that forms the backbone of this installation, which is rendered in chipboard harvested from the streets. The humbled bodies of former kitchens, prefab wardrobes, TV stands and beds reflect a state of both discard and exhaustion. Further details of architectural reproduction, publications and artefacts explore this sentiment, including a collection of original experimental chipboard plates from the Himmelheber archive, dating back to c. 1945 – 1957.
Employing techniques and aesthetics of museums, the display builds these layers to unpack and decontextualize the consumer product, and with it an extended range of socioeconomic and environmental concerns. At the seeming end of an era, this approach can be seen as a form of redemption through a consideration, re-ordering and caring for goods.
The project was realized in collaboration with Cityscapes Foundation and the Max Himmelheber-Stiftung.
Chipboard is an ingenious material originally made using waste material from sawmills, bound with phenol resin. Himmelheber approached the use of these materials in the spirit of frugality and economy, which resulted in a highly versatile, supposedly stable product. Chipboard now accounts for 80% of the material in furniture produced globally, and has spawned a love-hate relationship due its disposability, and more recently discovered environmental impacts.
With the management of patents, Himmelheber amassed a fortune, turned recluse and shifted his attention to a set of philosophical reflections on man’s role in the industrialized world.
The proliferation of his factories around the world meant he would spend much time in Japan, exposure that sparked a long-term interest in Shintoism and Animism. Back in his hometown, he commissioned architect Karl Nothhelfer to build an oriental inspired villa, a modernist hybrid translating his fantasies to home – essentially an eclectic bastardization of traditional Japanese forms.
Beckett’s installation draws from such idiosyncrasies of Himmelheber’s biography, along with various products of the material itself. There is, for example, a visible decay that forms the backbone of this installation, which is rendered in chipboard harvested from the streets. The humbled bodies of former kitchens, prefab wardrobes, TV stands and beds reflect a state of both discard and exhaustion. Further details of architectural reproduction, publications and artefacts explore this sentiment, including a collection of original experimental chipboard plates from the Himmelheber archive, dating back to c. 1945 – 1957.
Employing techniques and aesthetics of museums, the display builds these layers to unpack and decontextualize the consumer product, and with it an extended range of socioeconomic and environmental concerns. At the seeming end of an era, this approach can be seen as a form of redemption through a consideration, re-ordering and caring for goods.
The project was realized in collaboration with Cityscapes Foundation and the Max Himmelheber-Stiftung.
James beckett – The Sceptical Structures of Max
James Beckett
sheet chipboard, tubular chipboard profile, historical and modern objects, Flatbed printed text
238 × 140 × 39 cm (93 ¾ × 55 ⅛ × 15 ⅜ inches)
The Sceptical Structures of Max: 02
2019sheet chipboard, tubular chipboard profile, historical and modern objects, Flatbed printed text
238 × 140 × 39 cm (93 ¾ × 55 ⅛ × 15 ⅜ inches)
James Beckett
sheet chipboard, tubular chipboard profile, historical and modern objects, Flatbed printed text
185 × 145 × 39 cm (72 ⅞ × 57 ⅛ × 15 ⅜ inches)
Chipboard Burger, current (12/11/2019). 'Visual marketing - alibaba.com'CHIPS usually go with a burger - not really into one. Here is an example of a company on wholesale website Alibaba, presenting chipboard in combination with natural, mostly edible products such as fruits and wheat.Wanhua is a Chinese company founded in 2006, that uses such imagery, to promote their crop straw ecological board, made with formaldehyde-free resin, namelynon-toxic isocyanate (ie MDI), of which they are also one of the biggest producers 200,000 cubic meters of strawboard year, with plans to expand its capacity to 1,000,000 cubic meters by 2022.The attention-grabbing image of particle board pressed between hamburger buns is comical, and is possibly thought of in order to attract attention to the colour of the pictured particle board, with its particular shade of brown that resambles a cooked burger patty. A patty has more in common that just colour with this particle board however: it too is consistitued from minced parts which are then pressed together with force; and bound by a medium (egg, in the case of a burger) much like the phenol-resin for particle boards.
The Sceptical Structures of Max: 04
2019sheet chipboard, tubular chipboard profile, historical and modern objects, Flatbed printed text
185 × 145 × 39 cm (72 ⅞ × 57 ⅛ × 15 ⅜ inches)
Chipboard Burger, current (12/11/2019). 'Visual marketing - alibaba.com'CHIPS usually go with a burger - not really into one. Here is an example of a company on wholesale website Alibaba, presenting chipboard in combination with natural, mostly edible products such as fruits and wheat.Wanhua is a Chinese company founded in 2006, that uses such imagery, to promote their crop straw ecological board, made with formaldehyde-free resin, namelynon-toxic isocyanate (ie MDI), of which they are also one of the biggest producers 200,000 cubic meters of strawboard year, with plans to expand its capacity to 1,000,000 cubic meters by 2022.The attention-grabbing image of particle board pressed between hamburger buns is comical, and is possibly thought of in order to attract attention to the colour of the pictured particle board, with its particular shade of brown that resambles a cooked burger patty. A patty has more in common that just colour with this particle board however: it too is consistitued from minced parts which are then pressed together with force; and bound by a medium (egg, in the case of a burger) much like the phenol-resin for particle boards.
James Beckett
sheet chipboard, tubular chipboard profile, historical and modern objects, Flatbed printed text
115 × 57 × 30 cm (45 ¼ × 22 ½ × 11 ¾ inches)
Karl Nothhelfer, 1900 - 1980. 'Detail of repair on the aging Villa Himmelheber'.INDUSTRIAL and occasional residential architect Karl Nothhelfer was in fact better known for his furniture. Woking mostly in solid woods, his material set was later to be dominated by the particleboard produced by Himmelheber. It is assumed they were friends as, Nothhelfer designed both the laboratory and a private residence for Himmelheber, in his hometown of Baiserbronn. The laboratory has since been destroyed, but the 'Villa Himmelheber' residence still stands.On his regular trips to Japan, Himmelheber was introduced to Shintoism and animism and would draw inspiration from both the belief systems and Japanese culture through the rest of his life. these influences found their way into the architecture of the Villa Himmelheber.The building displays a modernist simplicity typical of Nothhelfers practice - further incorporating the exotic fascinations of Himmleheber. the exterior panels are reminiscent of 'shoji' - originally screens fashioned from translucent paper over frames of wood. There is an interior rock garden, and further up behind the building a private Shinto shrine.Detail of a cement repair to an outside wall, reproduced here in a three dimensional rendering. Rear of the Villa Himmelheber, Baiersbronn, DE
The Sceptical Structures of Max: 06
2019sheet chipboard, tubular chipboard profile, historical and modern objects, Flatbed printed text
115 × 57 × 30 cm (45 ¼ × 22 ½ × 11 ¾ inches)
Karl Nothhelfer, 1900 - 1980. 'Detail of repair on the aging Villa Himmelheber'.INDUSTRIAL and occasional residential architect Karl Nothhelfer was in fact better known for his furniture. Woking mostly in solid woods, his material set was later to be dominated by the particleboard produced by Himmelheber. It is assumed they were friends as, Nothhelfer designed both the laboratory and a private residence for Himmelheber, in his hometown of Baiserbronn. The laboratory has since been destroyed, but the 'Villa Himmelheber' residence still stands.On his regular trips to Japan, Himmelheber was introduced to Shintoism and animism and would draw inspiration from both the belief systems and Japanese culture through the rest of his life. these influences found their way into the architecture of the Villa Himmelheber.The building displays a modernist simplicity typical of Nothhelfers practice - further incorporating the exotic fascinations of Himmleheber. the exterior panels are reminiscent of 'shoji' - originally screens fashioned from translucent paper over frames of wood. There is an interior rock garden, and further up behind the building a private Shinto shrine.Detail of a cement repair to an outside wall, reproduced here in a three dimensional rendering. Rear of the Villa Himmelheber, Baiersbronn, DE
James Beckett
Sheet chipboard, tubular chipboard profile, historical chipboard from the Himmelheber archive, circa 1945 - 1957 / lastra di truciolato, sezione di truciolato tubolare, truciolato storico dall'archivio Himmelheber, c. 1945-1957
121 × 58 × 100 cm (47 ⅝ × 22 ⅞ × 39 ⅜ inches)
The Sceptical Structures of Max: 08
2019Sheet chipboard, tubular chipboard profile, historical chipboard from the Himmelheber archive, circa 1945 - 1957 / lastra di truciolato, sezione di truciolato tubolare, truciolato storico dall'archivio Himmelheber, c. 1945-1957
121 × 58 × 100 cm (47 ⅝ × 22 ⅞ × 39 ⅜ inches)
James Beckett
Sheet chipboard, tubular chipboard profile, historical chipboard from the Himmelheber archive, circa 1945 - 1957 / lastra di truciolato, sezione di truciolato tubolare, truciolato storico dall'archivio Himmelheber, c. 1945-1957
121 × 58 × 100 cm (47 ⅝ × 22 ⅞ × 39 ⅜ inches)
The Sceptical Structures of Max: 08
2019Sheet chipboard, tubular chipboard profile, historical chipboard from the Himmelheber archive, circa 1945 - 1957 / lastra di truciolato, sezione di truciolato tubolare, truciolato storico dall'archivio Himmelheber, c. 1945-1957
121 × 58 × 100 cm (47 ⅝ × 22 ⅞ × 39 ⅜ inches)
A review by Adam Carr
The Sceptical Structures of Max by Zimbabwean born and Amsterdam based artist James Beckett instigates a rudimentary examination of our built world to tease out ways in which industrial production is the result of and subsequently influences our behaviour.
The exhibition mines Beckett’s skill of compounding study with material use in intensively diligent yet open ended ways and that leads to new pathways in the language of exhibition presentation. Yet despite the former, at the core of Beckett’s exhibition is something mundanely normal: chipboard. Punctuating the exhibition are a number of extended captions, mimicking information tropes synonymous with cultural history museums, and through them we learn of Max Himmelheber, the mastermind of chipboard.
Himmelheber’s innovations contribute to an ongoing and ever prosperous yet cautionary tale of industrial production, both reflected and refracted in Beckett’ works that salvage chipboard from the streets. In their formality – including shape, volume and composition – the works are as much sculptural as they are painterly, with their diversions from wall to floor. The works’ material employment, which deal with aspects of ground and fore, house publications and artefacts, including a number of chipboard samples drawn from the Max Himmelheber-Stiftung.
As with a number of Beckett’s previous works, the installation delicately tows the line between revelation and complication, unearthing a wide net of potential uses and misuses of invention and industry, and their affect and effect on our contemporary society.
The Sceptical Structures of Max by Zimbabwean born and Amsterdam based artist James Beckett instigates a rudimentary examination of our built world to tease out ways in which industrial production is the result of and subsequently influences our behaviour.
The exhibition mines Beckett’s skill of compounding study with material use in intensively diligent yet open ended ways and that leads to new pathways in the language of exhibition presentation. Yet despite the former, at the core of Beckett’s exhibition is something mundanely normal: chipboard. Punctuating the exhibition are a number of extended captions, mimicking information tropes synonymous with cultural history museums, and through them we learn of Max Himmelheber, the mastermind of chipboard.
Himmelheber’s innovations contribute to an ongoing and ever prosperous yet cautionary tale of industrial production, both reflected and refracted in Beckett’ works that salvage chipboard from the streets. In their formality – including shape, volume and composition – the works are as much sculptural as they are painterly, with their diversions from wall to floor. The works’ material employment, which deal with aspects of ground and fore, house publications and artefacts, including a number of chipboard samples drawn from the Max Himmelheber-Stiftung.
As with a number of Beckett’s previous works, the installation delicately tows the line between revelation and complication, unearthing a wide net of potential uses and misuses of invention and industry, and their affect and effect on our contemporary society.
