Thomas Rentmeister at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, 2005–2006

A review of Thomas Rentmeister's exhibition at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, held from October 29, 2005 to January 15, 2006, argues that sculpture is a finished art form. The author contends that sculpture has exhausted its formal grammar, citing the dated extremes of Robert Morris's 'antiform' (1969) and Jeffrey Shaw's virtual 'Golden Calf' (1996) as examples. This obsolescence, however, is presented as an advantage, sparing viewers from sentimental loss. Any sculptural endeavor—whether focused on beauty, effect, kitsch, commemoration, symbolism, gesture, or narrative—is reduced to inconsequential plastic play, a 'game over' that can be endlessly repeated with variations. The review welcomes the 'culinary era of postsculpture.'