Emilio López-Menchero
CAP.MAX.

During the fall of 2008, Emilio López-Menchero presents the work CAP.MAX. in the garden of Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens.

Emilio López-Menchero creates interventions that are loaded with humor yet also have art historical, social, or architectural significance. His body of work includes drawings, photography, installations, as well as performances and interventions in public spaces.

CAP.MAX. is part of a series of works in which he refers to the most elementary standards in architecture. In 2002, a truck was equipped with a schematic representation of a human for the Station 2 Station project, indicating the maximum human capacity of a trailer. Since 2002, the truck from has traveled throughout Europe and now makes a temporary stop in the museum's garden.

The schematic representation of the human is based on the work of architectural theorist Ernst Neufert. His book Bauordnungslehre (1943) is considered a standard work among architects. In this book, Ernst Neufert establishes elementary construction standards for architecture. Emilio López-Menchero is particularly interested in his theories regarding the maximum capacity regulations for certain public spaces such as elevators, and trains, ...

The work is thus an inquiry into the extreme rationalization and dehumanization of architecture. At the same time, it alludes to trucks filled with illegal refugees. In this way, the work CAP.MAX. becomes an essential question of the meaning of space in its relationship to humans.