Monika Sosnowska’s large-scale sculptures at EMMA surprise the viewer with their apparent lightness
Polish sculptor Monika Sosnowska’s exhibition of sculptures at EMMA invites the viewer to reconsider our conception of space and the meaning of structures. Presented in EMMA’s Areena exhibition space dedicated to new and experimental art, An Order Apart will be on show from 6 March to 15 December 2024.
Monika Sosnowska (b. 1972) is known for her architectonic sculptures that endow space with new meanings. What especially interests here is the impact that architecture and space have on people, and the difficulty of changing existing structures. Using identifiable materials such as steel beams, concrete and reinforcing bars, she creates something completely new by modifying and distorting their original properties and functions.
Created specifically for EMMA, An Order Apart consists of six large-scale sculptures by Sosnowska which engage with the concrete brutalist elements of the WeeGee building. The installation conveys at once a sense of familiarity and strangeness as well as heaviness and lightness. Made from heavy materials, the sculptures surprise the viewer with their apparent, even humorous lightness.
“The artist was immediately inspired by the stark, industrial architecture of the building designed by Aarno Ruusuvuori. Characteristically, her works offer a new perspective for viewing the space around them. In the centre of the exhibition is a ten-metre-long metal sculpture, Pipe. Its form brings to mind a giant roll of paper, and in EMMA it establishes a special link with the history of the exhibition centre as a printing house,” says Pernilla Wiik, curator of the exhibition. “It is also wonderful to have one of the artist’s most distinctive works, Handrail from 2016, adapted to the exhibition space at EMMA.”
Monika Sosnowska is an internationally acclaimed artist who has exhibited in numerous prestigious venues, including MoMA in New York, Serpentine Gallery in London, and the 50th and 52nd Venice Biennales. The artist’s interest in altering meanings and materials as well as her interest in modernism originates from her youth in Poland during the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. At that time, the country’s political system changed from people’s republic to democracy, and this had a far-reaching impact on society as well as the environment. Sosnowska’s works comment, among other things, on the significance of the buildings from the socialist era and on people’s relationship to them.
The sculptural idiom of the artworks in An Order Apart shows influences from modernist movements such as constructivism, minimalism, and conceptual art, that are characteristic to the artist’s work. The exhibition opens simultaneously with the Experiments in Concretism collection exhibition, which explores the diversity of concrete art. The exhibitions are installed in adjacent spaces at EMMA, engaging in an intriguing dialogue with one another.
This exhibition is produced in collaboration with the artist’s representatives Hauser & Wirth and the Foksal Gallery Foundation.
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Med EMMAs och Saastamoinen stiftelsens utställningsserie InCollection visas amerikanska Tschabalala Selfs produktion för första gången i Finland7.5.2024 09:30:00 EEST | Tiedote
Tschabalala Self är den sjunde konstnären i InCollection-serien av beställningsutställningar som EMMA och Saastamoinen stiftelsen producerar i samarbete. Utgångspunkten för utställningen Från samma kvarter har varit målningen Anthurium (Flamingoblomma) som beställts till stiftelsens samling. Konstnärens målningar och skulpturer i flera olika material skapar i EMMAs utställningslokaler narrativa presentationer som gestaltar livet i gatukvarteren i Harlem i New York. Utställningen visas på EMMA i ett år, från den 8 maj 2024 till den 4 maj 2025.
Tschabalala Self’s first solo exhibition in Finland to open at EMMA as part of InCollection series co-produced with Saastamoinen Foundation7.5.2024 09:30:00 EEST | Press release
Tschabalala Self is the seventh artist to join InCollection series of exhibitions co-produced by the museum and the foundation. The centerpiece of the exhibition Around the Way is Anthurium, a newly commissioned painting by Self which will join the Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection. Around the Way transforms EMMA’s exhibition spaces with colourful displays to evoke the metropolitan landscapes of Harlem and the atmosphere of its domestic interiors. The expansive year-long exhibition is on view from 8 May 2024 until 4 May 2025.
EMMAn ja Saastamoisen säätiön InCollection-näyttelysarja esittelee yhdysvaltalaisen Tschabalala Selfin tuotantoa ensi kertaa Suomessa7.5.2024 09:30:00 EEST | Tiedote
Tschabalala Self on seitsemäs taiteilija EMMAn ja Saastamoisen säätiön yhteistyössä tuottamassa InCollection -komissionäyttelyiden sarjassa. Samasta korttelista -nimisen näyttelyn lähtökohtana on toiminut säätiön kokoelmaan tilattu maalaus Anthurium (Flamingonkukka). Taiteilijan monimateriaaliset maalaukset ja veistokset muodostavat EMMAn näyttelytiloihin tarinallisia esillepanoja, jotka ilmentävät New Yorkin Harlemin katukortteleiden elämää. Näyttely on esillä EMMAssa vuoden, 8. toukokuuta 2024–4. toukokuuta 2025.
INBJUDAN till media: Presskonferens för utställning Tschabalala Self: Från samma kvarter, tisdagen den 7 maj kl. 10 på EMMA23.4.2024 13:30:00 EEST | Kutsu
EMMA i samarbete med Saastamoinen Stiftelsen är stolta att kunna presentera Från samma kvarter, den amerikanska konstnären Tschabalala Selfs första utställning i Finland. Varmt välkommen på presskonferens för att höra konstnären berätta om utställningen.
INVITATION for media: Press event for Tschabalala Self: Around the Way on Tuesday 7 May at 10 am in EMMA23.4.2024 13:30:00 EEST | Press Invitation
EMMA, in collaboration with the Saastamoinen Foundation, is delighted to present Around the Way the first solo exhibition in Finland by the US artist Tschabalala Self. Warmly welcome to the press preview at EMMA to hear about the exhibition from the artist.
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