Katinka Bock + Nick Mauss at Espace Louis Vuitton
*The Architecture of Resonance
written Alban E. Smajli
Espace Louis Vuitton München unveils RESONANCE, an incisive convergence of Katinka Bock's material meditations and Nick Mauss’s enigmatic visual narratives.
The exhibition crystallizes Fondation Louis Vuitton's ongoing mission of recontextualizing its collection, extending beyond its Paris epicenter into global territory. Katinka Bock shapes vulnerability into strength. Her sculptures, raw and exacting, manipulate elemental materials—clay, paper, stone, metal—each piece a quiet interrogation of balance and impermanence. The deliberate exposure of her work to natural processes results in forms saturated with the unpredictability of experience, echoing the human condition's nuanced complexities.
KATINKA BOCK
A AND I, 2013
Eiche, Bronze, Keramik, Stahl/Oak, bronze, ceramics, steel
180 x 55 x 80 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Fondation Louis Vuitton
Photo (c) Primae / Louis Bourjac
NICK MAUSS
DOUBLE MOTIF, 2016
9 Tafeln mit Hinterglasmalerei, Farbe/9 mirror panels, paint
221 x 160 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Fondation Louis Vuitton
Photo (c) Primae / Marc Domage
Nick Mauss articulates ambiguity. His practice dissolves distinctions between drawing, sculpture, performance, and text, producing works that are fragmented, ephemeral, and hauntingly precise. Layered transparencies, mirrored reflections, and delicate lines converge into compositions that resist static interpretation, continuously evolving as viewers interact with their spatial reality.
RESONANCE is a deliberate act of curation—two artists, distinct yet inherently aligned, exploring histories embedded in material and memory. Bock’s sculptures embody temporalities; each crack or fold a record of interaction between artist, environment, and time. Mauss reconfigures histories through intricate gestures, archival echoes transformed into immersive realities. The exhibition reframes historical narratives, stripping them from fixed contexts, releasing their latent energies into the gallery's architecture.
Experimental methodology defines RESONANCE. Bock’s materials—humble, potent, unpredictable—are elevated through her meticulous manipulation, becoming potent symbols of transformation and endurance. Mauss, meanwhile, perpetually reinvents his creative language, effortlessly transitioning between forms, mediums, and references, crafting immersive encounters that envelope viewers in reflective possibility.
The spatial dynamics of Espace Louis Vuitton München are integral to RESONANCE. Both Bock and Mauss actively harness and reshape architectural space, inviting their visitors into a choreography of movement and contemplation. The gallery becomes a resonant chamber, an activated stage for engagement, intimacy, and reflection.
KATINKA BOCK
ZARBA LONSA, POMPEI, 2015
Keramik, Stahl, Eisen/Ceramics, steel, iron
85 x 70 x 100 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Fondation Louis Vuitton
Fundamental to RESONANCE is Fondation Louis Vuitton’s commitment to disrupting the boundaries of contemporary art's accessibility. The exhibition is emblematic of the Foundation’s ethos—architecturally expressed through Frank Gehry’s iconic Paris structure and conceptually through global "Hors-les-murs" interventions. It underscores art's radical potential as a participatory and democratic force.
RESONANCE offers viewers an encounter with complexity distilled into form, materials eloquent in their silence, histories refracted through contemporary sensibilities. It is a provocation, an insistence on the vitality of dialogue within and beyond artistic boundaries.
RESONANCE runs from March 21 to September 6, 2025, at Espace Louis Vuitton München. Entry is open and complimentary.
(c) Katinka Bock & Nick Mauss
Espace Louis Vuitton Munich, 2025
KATINKA BOCK
ALASKA, 2014
Keramik, Holz, Stahl/Ceramics, wood, steel
426 x 198 x 142 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Fondation Louis Vuitton
Photo (c) Primae / Louis Bourjac
KATINKA BOCK
HORIZONT MIT LOT UND ZITRONE, 2011
Stahlstange, Filz, Holz, Plastikball, Zitrone, Stahldraht, Sand/Steel bar, felt, wood, plastic ball, lemon, steel wire, sand
250 x 600 x 10 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Fondation Louis Vuitton
Photo (c) Primae / Claude Germain
header image
NICK MAUSS, PROCESSION, 2017
15 Tafeln mit Hinterglasmalerei, verspiegelt / 15 panels with reverse glass painting, mirrored
159 x 365 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Fondation Louis Vuitton
Photo credits: (c) Primae / Marc Domage