Purple Diary
[December 17 2010]
Monika Sosnowska at Hauser & Wirth
Monika Sosnowska’s show at Hauser and Wirth is founded on upon her recent residency at Artpace San Antonio. For her exhibition, she has focused on the ubiquitous emergency stairwells that scale the sides of old buildings throughout that city. She twisted and squeezed horizontal metal platforms, balustrade, and stairs into alternate settings, generating labyrinths and optical illusions. Often beginning as exquisite paper models, their reifications take place into specific spaces. Inspired by the Polish constructivism of the 1930’s and the utilitarian architecture of the 1970’s, Sosnowska treats space as a medium for her work. As its predecessors she tries to multiply the possibilities of the pre-given dimensions and modifies the logic of movement inside a room. In articulating antagonisms between emptiness and saturation and proposing conflicting lines and suggestions with discordant scales, she finally transforms this physical space into a personal and mental space. Monika Sosnowska runs until 18 December at Hauser & Wirth, 32 East 69th Street, New York. Text Pierre-Alexandre Mateos
