Monica Bonvicini

With installations, sculptures and drawings, Monica Bonvicini has created a multi-layered, internationally acclaimed oeuvre for which she has been honoured with, among other awards, the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale in 1999 and, only recently in 2020, the Oskar Kokoschka Prize in Vienna. This volume now reproduces two current series of drawings: the first continues the series “Hurricanes and Other Catastrophes,” begun in 2006 in response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, and widens the view, initially focused on the sudden destruction caused by the hurricane in New Orleans, to take in views of houses that show damage resulting from long-term climate change. The second series, created during the lockdown, leads into dark grey and pink landscapes dominated by fences, chains and lines of text. The latter contrast with the soft backgrounds and appear startlingly real and present. Monica Bonvicini has sprayed on words that originally came from Roland Barthes, Judith Butler, Natalie Diaz, Soraya Chemaly or Andrea Dworkin – twisted, abbreviated or otherwise altered, however, which then gives rise to an entirely new, poetic dimension: “Weep Me Crude,” “Power Joy Humor & Widerstand,” “I Never Tire” etc.

Exhibition:
Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Lover’s Material, 10/10/2020 – 30/5/2021