Critical Distance. Body Politics and Displacement in the Work of Mona Hatoum

Held in conjunction with the survey exhibition of the work of Mona Hatoum, this international symposium offers insight into the artist’s oeuvre. With her interest in articulating concerns through a reductive approach and abstract language, Hatoum is considered a prominent representative of Postminimalism, taking the visual code of Minimal Art and deconstructing or expanding it in a targeted manner.

By transforming everyday objects and materials in an unexpected way and linking her presentations to feminist discourses and body politics, Hatoum broadens the notion of sculpture from questions of materiality to critical thinking. Her long engagement with themes of exclusion and exile, changing notions of gender and race, and, not least, the body itself, provides new perspectives on contemporary debates and current political discourse. The symposium will deal with the notion of sculpture’s engagement in sociopolitical perspectives, the development of sculpture in an increasingly digital age, new attitudes towards the body and the uncertain and precarious conditions of our world.

The three-part exhibition Mona Hatoum is on view at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (September 15 – November 13, 2022), Georg Kolbe Museum (September 15, 2022 – January 8, 2023), and KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art (September 18, 2022 – May 14, 2023).