For her exhibition at the GfZK Bonvicini produces new works, among them seven large-size black-and-white “Collages”, executed in water-colour technique. The works on paper show architectural elements combined with text. „Architecture has never been a neutral space to me. … Architecture is a necessity, like language, it’s a fundamental tool in the process of identification. Architecture and language both contribute to the construct of history.“ , says Monica Bonvicini in one interview. Image (architecture) and text (language) are inextricably connected with each other on conceptual as well as on visual level.
An important part of her artistic practice is the examination of the physical and mental relationship of the subject to his/her constructed surroundings. She furthermore explicitly refers to the relationship of control and oppression to spatial dominance and spatial restrictions by using various strategies. In some works it is the participation of the audience creating the very work, e.g. in “Plastered” (1998) in which the piece has been transformed (destroyed) by the visitors, whereas others have strong physical and psychological impact („Wallfuckin’“ 1995, „A violent, tropical, cyclonic piece of art having wind speeds of or in excess of 75 mph.“ 1998 or “Eternmale“ 2000).
In other projects she takes up clichéd images of masculinity and exaggerates them to the point of ridiculousness, or uses elements with a sadomasochistic charge. Thus the artist breaks social taboos and questions commonly accepted social norms such as the position of women and homosexuals in the post-modern consumer society.
In the art-installations of Bonvicini in which media images, architectural elements, video, ready-made objects are combined, the architectural space loses its universally intentioned, ideal conception and its authority. Sexuality and destruction are deployed in the sense of performative acts, which at least perforate, if not dissolve, architecturally pre-configured social roles and supposedly fixed definitions.
Catalogue:
againstwithin. Hg.: Ilina Koralova im Auftrag der GfZK Leipzig, FUUD Usti nad Labem, Forum Stadtpark Graz, Preis: EUR 22.00
Texts:
Barbara Steiner: Being critical. Still.
Ines Weizman: Critique without Memory, or Memory without Critique
Judith Laister: Saint Francis and Homo Sacer
Christian Teckert: Cracks in the Glass
Diverse authors: Bed & Board
Diverse authors: Projects in Leipzig
Nora Theiss: Projects in Graz
Michal Koleček: Projects in Ústí nad Labem