Monica Bonvicini: I do You

I do You by the artist Monica Bonvicini is an interventionist appropriation of the Neue Nationalgalerie’s architecture: a huge mirrored sculpture in front of the entrance and a large-scale pedestal in the exhibition hall defy the transparent, expansive nature of the space and open up unfamiliar perspectives for visitors. I do You turns Mies van der Rohe’s iconic museum space into a reflection on the traditionally masculine connotations of the power of architecture.

In addition to these specially developed, site-specific installations, visitors will also see sculptural objects, performative works, and sound pieces by the Berlin-based artist from the 1990s to the present: Her usable “Chain Swings” (2009/2022), each designed for two people, create a visual as well as physical connection to subversive actions and spaces through their materiality of steel and chains. A series of new light works, consisting of LED neon tubes hand-woven with electrical cables, illuminate a corner of the hall as a sculptural structure. The object “Blind Shot – Wallsucker” (2005) from the Nationalgalerie’s collection is also shown: a drill colored with black spray paint that starts moving loudly every five minutes above the visitors’ heads. Also on view is the early work “2 Tonnen Alte Nationalgalerie” (1998), which consists of vast amounts of rubble removed from the neo-classical façade of the Alte Nationalgalerie. While walking on the terrace around the glass hall, visitors can hear the sound piece “Retrospective” (2022), which highlights Bonvicini’s conceptual use of language: a voice recites numerous titles of artworks that Bonvicini has created over three decades. In conjunction with other light, video, and sound works, the exhibition conveys Bonvicini’s diversity of media and her central themes of feminism and architecture, as well as the questioning of the role of the institution.

Curated by Joachim Jäger and Irina Hiebert Grun.

The exhibition is made possible by the Freunde der Nationalgalerie with the kind support of the Leinemann-Stiftung für Bildung und Kunst.