Matthew Buckingham

Burglar Alarm, c. 2007

Digital print

10 x 8.8 in (25.4 x 22.35 cm)

Edition. Printer's Proof (From the edition of: 1 BAT, 1 TP, 4 APs, 2 PPs, and 20 editions)

$4,500

2007 Artpace Resident Artist Matthew Buckingham’s print "Burglar Alarm" references an “alarm” system that was occasionally included in homes built prior to the end of the 19th century. Builders would utilize a "trip-step" that would rise a few inches higher than the other steps and cause an unwary and unknowing intruder to stumble in the night and awaken slumbering occupants. The idea was adapted from an earlier military defense strategy used by medieval stone masons who constructed uneven steps in castle stairwells hoping to thwart invading foreign armies. The print consists of a floating staircase with a trip-step hidden amongst the staircase leading nowhere, and functions as an abstract version of the old system.

About the artist

Matthew Buckingham

Matthew Buckingham was born in Nevada, Iowa, and currently lives in New York City. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, received a BA from the University of Iowa, an MFA from Bard College and attended the Whitney Independent Study Program. Utilizing photography, film, video, audio, writing and drawing, his work questions the role that social memory plays in contemporary life. His projects create physical and social contexts that encourage viewers to question what is most familiar to them. Recent works have investigated the Indigenous past and present in the Hudson River Valley; the "creative destruction" of the city of St. Louis; and the inception of the first English dictionary. His work has been seen in one-person and group exhibitions at ARC / Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris; Camden Arts Centre, London; The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC; Hamburger Bahnhof National Gallery, Berlin; Kunst-Werke, Berlin; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitechapel, London and The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. He was a 2003 recipient of the DAAD Artist in Berlin Fellowship.