Monika Sosnowska

Silent Witnesses of The Past

Sosnowska’s sculptural language emerges from a process of experimentation with, and the appropriation of, construction materials such as steel beams, concrete, reinforcing rods, and pipes. These elements—the solid and rigid foundations of buildings—are manipulated and warped, taking on an independence in which their former functionality is implied yet defunct.

In her recent works, Sosnowska has incorporated elements of modernist architecture and recognisable details including staircases, handrails, gates, and window structures to create unexpected, even uncanny, encounters. She treats buildings as a site of memory and is adept at conveying both political and psychological significance through her work. She quotes architectural irregularities, collaging different elements together to form a whole that appears at once confused, yet intentionally and attractively designed. Space is encountered as a psychosomatic quality, as political as its experience is personal, forever veering in the mind of the viewer between the uncanny and the sublime.

Born in Ryki, Poland, Sosnowska achieved international renown in 2003 with her work The Corridor, an intervention that formed part of the Arsenale exhibition of the 50th Venice Biennale. Four years later, Sosnowska represented Poland at the 52nd Venice Biennale with the monumental installation 1:1. Recent venues for solo shows include the Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw; the Muzeum Susch, Switzerland; The Contemporary Austin; the Indianapolis Museum of Art; and The Modern Institute, Glasgow. Public art commissions include FIR TREE, New York, and The Wind House, London.