Monica Bonvicini @ Bonniers Konsthall

What does your wife think of your rough and dry hands?

The main exhibition at Bonniers Konsthall this spring features Italian artist Monica Bonvicini. Bonvicini, who is based in Berlin, is one of her generation’s most acclaimed artists, and the exhibition at Bonniers Konsthall is the first major presentation


Monica Bonvicini’s art explores the experience of space and architecture. Her large-scale installations and sculptures, which often use the art institution’s own architecture, critically addresses the western architectural tradition to reveal how a culture’s values infuse every last building block of its construction.

Thematically, Bonivicini works within a tradition in contemporary art where artists question the idea of perception within the exhibition space as well as in art history. She often uses industrial materials like glass, metal, and chains in her works, exploring and redefining their functions. One of the most distinct characteristics of her art is its physical concreteness, and the way it violently addresses and directly influences the observers’ experience of the room.

The exhibition at Bonniers Konsthall shows several of Monica Bonvicini’s prominent works from her production since the 1990’s and up to today. Her floor-piece Plastered will cover a large part of the konsthall. The ongoing work What does your wife/girlfriend think of your rough and dry hands? is exhibited in its totality, with additional questionnaires filled out in Stockholm. It is a series of questionnaires that has been distributed to hundreds of construction workers in different countries. The questionnaires have challenging questions such as “What is so appealing about construction workers?” or “Whom would you like to wall up?” Bonvicini uses aggression and humor to make us ponder how architecture and buildings are connected to sexuality and power. The exhibition also features a series of Monica Bonvicini’s later works, like the text-based large scale sculpture Not For You, one of her double swings, and a screen-print drawing on safety glass.

With solo exhibitions at respected institutions around the world, like Kunstwerke in Berlin, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Wiener Seccesion in Vienna, and The Sculpture Center in New York, Monica Bonvicini has established herself on the international art scene. She participates frequently in biennials all over the world, and she received the Nationalgalerie Prize for Young Art, one of Europe’s most prestigious art awards, in 2005. Bonvicini is represented by Galleria Emi Fontana, Milan - West of Rome Inc., Los Angeles.

A catalogue will be published in conjunction with the exhibition.


Bonniers Konsthall
15 Feb - 29 Apr 2007