2023-05-01 13:52:55
Heavy stainless steel chains or an oversized mirror draw museum enthusiasts to the New National Gallery. The joy is huge.
Handcuffs and chain installations by Berlin-based Italian artist Monica Bonvicini attracted around 230,000 people to the New National Gallery. “We are extremely grateful that our current program is so enthusiastically accepted by so many people,” said Klaus Biesenbach, director of the museum, the dpa in Berlin.
The “I do You” exhibition with works by the 58-year-old, which has been running since November, should end today. From Biesenbach’s point of view, the rush also shows “that the museums are now being fully perceived again after the Covid pandemic”.
Bonvicini’s constructions provided new perspectives on the famous building by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969). The male-dominated modernist architecture challenged Bonvicini’s feminist approach. “Through her artistic intervention, Monica Bonvicini opened up a new perspective on Mies van der Rohe’s architecture,” said curator Joachim Jäger. “We are very pleased that this radical, strongly participatory exhibition has met with such great interest.”
Visitors could transform themselves into exhibits by hanging heavy stainless steel chains from the eight meter high ceiling. They would gather in chain-mounted love swings or use seats covered with sado-maso materials. Bonvicini blocked the entrance with a mirror that protruded beyond the gigantic steel construction of the roof. The “I do you” on the mirror was also read as a declaration of war on the building. (dpa)
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