| Description |
Accompanying the exhibition at Galerie Max Hetzler this fully illustrated catalogue features an essay by Patricia Falguières. 'Shift' features several recent works by the artist, including a new, large sculpture made of marbles and two works created during a residency in Istanbul earlier this year (Kapan iki and Shift). All of the works in the exhibition embody the artist's signature use of contrasting forms and materials as well as her interest in the themes of power structures, conflict and 'home'.
«Her installations, objects and performances impress themselves on the viewer's awareness with curiously self-effacing ingenuity which is provocatively undermined, nearly cancelled and definitively reduced by the utterly humdrum, local and unspectacular materials (hair, steel, soap, marbles, rubber, wire, string etc.) that she uses so virtuosically.»(Edward W. Said)
For three decades Mona Hatoum has been interrogating political issues through diverse metaphors that frequently reference Minimal Art and, in particular, its use of the grid. The installation Kapan iki (2012) consists of a group of human-scaled, cage-like structures, made from the steel rods used to reinforce concrete in building construction. Inside each cage is an ambiguous red glass shape, which seems to be oozing its way out, making a striking contrast to the formal grid of its enclosure. The work suggests themes of entrapment ('kapan' is the Turkish word for 'trap') as well as evoking a physicality and energy from within the sculpture. |