Stefan Brüggemann’s work draws on the tautological tradition of American Conceptualism of the 1960s. His appropriation of the conceptual modus operandi is a twofold discursive strategy. On the one hand, his aim is to render it into a style, so to speak, by banalizing the operation endlessly; on the other hand, there seems to be an attempt to establish a difference with local conceptualisms which, contrary to their American counterparts, sought to contextualize artistic practice instead focusing on its self-reflexitivy. (THIS MUST BE THE PLACE), alludes to the problem of location and the positioning of the center. By placing the phrase on the gallery wall as well as in other randomly chosen places throughout the city, the artist renders meaningless the statement, and refers to the conflict between center and periphery, for if “this must be the place,” then there is no other possible “place.”


Selected solo exhibitions: 2002: Galería de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City; ICA London; 24/7, London; 2001: Museum of Installation, London; Guadalajara, Mexico; 1998: Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City; Museum of Installation, London.
Selected group exhibitions: 2002: The Art World’s New Darling, Curaduría Express S.A.I.S.C., Mexico City; Pr,02 En Ruta, M&M proyectos, Puerto Rico; Zebra Crossing, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Demonstration room, ideal house, Gallery 400, Chicago; 2001: Demonstration Room, ideal house, NICC, Antwerp, Belgium; Tendencias, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City; Vanishing City, Programa Art Center, Mexico City; Las Molestias Son Temporales, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico; La Persistencia De La Imagen, Artsonje Center. Seoul, Korea; 2000: 2do Festival de Arte Sonoro, Ex Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City; Promo, Galería de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City; Box Project, Museum of Installation, London; 1999: Blind Spot, Art & Idea, Mexico City; 1998: Made in Mexico/Made in Venezuela, Art Metropole, Toronto, Canada; SONG 2, Zacatecas #89, Mexico City.