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Review

Monica
Bonvicini

3612,54 m³ vs 0,05 m³

“You can avoid people but you can’t avoid architecture.“ It's been over 20 years since Bonvicini made this remark and yet it continues to define her practice up to the present day.

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Bonvicini's diverse oeuvre of sculptures, installations, drawings, photographs and videos works is permeated by explorations of space, power, gender and sexuality. Her latest intervention at the Berlinische Galerie – produced parallel to her contribution to the 15th Istanbul Biennial – investigates the architecture of the museum building, its potential uses and the way it is perceived.

The title of the exhibition refers to the volume of the space itself (3612.54 m³) and to that of the artist (0.05 m³), drawing attention to parallels and discontinuities as well as mining the relationship between space and its contents. The volume of the artist, calculated using her height and weight, stands for each visitor as well.

Over the course of her career, Monica Bonvicini has always explored the complex relationship between physical and social space, its historical, political and economical implications as well as the conditions imposed by institutional exhibition spaces. The presentation in the first exhibition hall of the Berlinische Galerie features two installations. Both investigate the construction of the hall itself and its capacity as an exhibition space, pushing it to the very limits of its function.

An exhibition catalogue published by the Kerber Verlag will accompany the exhibition. The authors are Thomas Köhler and Kate Sutton. The catalogue will be released in November. ISBN Museum Edition: 978-3-940208-50-7, ISBN Book Trade Edition 978-3-7356-0388-3