RM

Decay
Kunstmuseum St. Gallen

Pasted Into the Album

The work of RM (formerly Real Madrid), which was founded in Geneva in 2015, homes in on the intersection between sexuality, consumerism, identity, and physicality. In sprawling sculptural and installation projects, RM scrutinizes social and political responses to stigmatized sexually transmitted diseases and infections, up to and including the stigma of death. Their work is distinguished by its precise formal vocabulary, references to pop culture, and shrewd sense of humor. 

On occasion of the project’s tenth anniversary, they release their first monograph, titled Decay. The book’s formal design recalls sticker albums for soccer fans, a medium that unleashed a craze for collecting and trading stickers when it came on the market in the 1960s. Each book contains ten stickers. A conversation between Melanie Buhler and the duo provides an introduction to their practice; with additional contributions by the poet and writer Eileen Myles and the artist Lili Reynaud-Dewar, among others.