Mona Hatoum

Description

My works are full of associations and meanings – a reflection on the social environment in which we live. Unlike minimalist objects, they are not self-referential.
Mona Hatoum The human body as a projection surface for social and political themes forms the basis of Mona Hatoum's artistic work. Born in 1952 into a Palestinian family in Beirut and emigrated to London in 1975, she experienced alienation firsthand, which she translated into disturbing performances in the 1980s. Since the 1990s, she has realized sculptures and installations in which the absent body, like the private home, serves as a metaphor for threat and vulnerability. Strict forms contrast with fragile materials, everyday objects pretend comfort but conceal latent danger. "I love to use furniture in my work. They speak of daily life. [...] When these objects appear unstable or threatening, they remind us of our own fragility." (Hatoum) The ambivalence provoked by the artist points to the loss of the familiar and tangible. In her work, Mona Hatoum expands the formal possibilities of Minimal Art to include the dimension of the political and existential. With the overcoming of the self-referentiality of art, the artist became an icon of contemporary art of the last decades, as reflected in exhibitions at leading museums worldwide, such as in 2015 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and in 2016 at the Tate, London. In 2004, she was awarded the Roswitha Haftmann Prize, in 2010 the Käthe Kollwitz Prize, in 2011 the Joan Miró Prize, and in 2019 the Praemium Imperiale in Japan. The Kunst Museum Winterthur has presented her works several times in thematic exhibitions on sculpture and video art. Her solo exhibition will offer a deeper insight into the equally impressive and unsettling work of one of the leading contemporary female artists. Curated by Konrad Bitterli. Participants and additional information: Mona Hatoum

Highlights

• Works by Mona Hatoum
• Themes of alienation and vulnerability
• Exhibition at Kunst Museum Winterthur

General Information

The exhibition showcases the works of Mona Hatoum, which deal with social and political themes. Her sculptures and installations reflect the ambivalence of the familiar and threatening and offer a deep insight into human fragility.

Location

Museumstrasse 52, 8400 Winterthur, Switzerland

Hide Map

Loading map...

How to get there

Get Directions