Mona Hatoum

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Mona Hatoum (born February 11, 1952 in Beirut , Lebanon ) is a Palestinian-British artist.

Life

Mona Hatoum's parents already had the experience of uprooting: They lived in Haifa , Israel , but fled to Lebanon in 1948 because of the war situation prior to the establishment of the Israeli state. From 1970 to 1972 Mona attended Beirut University College . When she was on a trip to London in 1975, civil war broke out in Lebanon. Since she could not return, she stayed in London. There she studied art, from 1975 to 1979 at the Byam Shaw School of Art and from 1979 to 1981 at the Slade School of Art . From 1986 to 1994 she taught at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design , London, and from 1992 to 1997 at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. In 1994/1995 she was visiting professor at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts , Paris, and in 1998 at the Chelsea College of Art and Design and the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London. She lives in London and Berlin.

Main features of the work

Focus on the body

In Mona Hatoum's work, the focus is on the body. It shows how institutional violence affects people.

“I didn't want to create a work that is one-dimensional in the sense that it only appeals to the intellect. I wanted it to be a full experience that would involve the body, the senses, the mind, the emotions, everything. "

- Mona Hatoum

Examples are Look No Body! , Under Siege , So Much I Want to Say , Corps Etranger and Deep Throat .

The political dimension

The works have a political dimension without being partisan:

“She uses her analytical, sharp eye and is a political artist without agitating or losing herself in concrete positions. And it remains straightforward. That prevents false pathos. "

- Ingvild Goetz

Examples are The Negotiating Table and Measures of Distance .

Ambiguity

Mona Hatoum has built pitfalls into a series of sculptures that are designed without frills and look very aesthetically pleasing, which make a hidden violence visible at second glance. By changing the material, proportions or function of everyday objects or adding elements, the artist conveys a feeling of threat to the individual. Examples are Divan Bed , Untitled (wheelchair) , Home and Natura morta (cupboard with a curved front) .

Aesthetic features

A recurring aesthetic characteristic of her work are curvy, winding lines that often form a counterpoint to strict, grid-like structures. Rainald Schumacher sees in this a connection of the organic-natural and the rational-spiritual order to a unity. One example is Hot Spot III .

Works in detail

Performances of the 1980s

Mona Hatoum performed around 35 performances between 1980 and 1988 . None of them were organized for the video recording; they were geared towards direct communication with the audience, which differed in the individual performances. While she presented herself as a victim in Under Siege , for example , she threatened the audience in other performances. During street performances, she turned innocent passers-by into an audience. For Mona Hatoum, it wasn't about experiencing physical limits. Rather, the use of the body in interaction with other means, such as the mud in Under Siege or the lighting in The Negotiating Table , is oriented towards a statement. Although many performances can be related to current political events and the artist's biography, they open up to the general experience of violence and suffering.

Look no body! (1981)

While still a student, she staged this performance: the audience saw on a monitor how Mona Hatoum used the toilet several times, in which a camera was installed. At the same time, a tape recording could be heard in which Mona Hatoum scientifically described urination. She drank a lot of water and offered it to the audience. By making visible what otherwise happens in secret, she pointed out an important difference in dealing with body orifices: some of them are just as accepted in public as the activities associated with them, such as mouth and drinking, while others are not.

Under Siege (1982)

This is probably Mona Hatoum's best-known performance: for seven hours she fought in a transparent cube with loamy mud, the viewer only had the role of the helpless witness.

The Negotiating Table (1983)

Stained with blood, covered with viscera and wrapped in plastic, Mona Hatoum lay motionless for three hours on a table surrounded by chairs in a darkened room, lit only by a lightbulb. There was news of the civil war in Lebanon and speeches from Western leaders about peace.

“Basically it was a juxtaposition of two elements - while one related to the physical reality and brutality of the situation, the other related to the way these are represented and treated in the West. This work was the most direct reference I have ever made to the war in Lebanon. It came about right after the Israelis marched in and the massacres in the camps - for me the most devastating experience of my life. "

- Mona Hatoum

Again the artist made her body a picture of powerlessness and suffering.

Sculptures and room-filling installations since the late 1980s

Moutons (1994)

In this installation with 145 hairballs, for which she rolled up her brushed locks for six years and collected them in cardboard boxes, the artist shows her own physical elements. The collector Ingvild Goetz says about this work of art: "I see in it the religious chastisement of women, a farewell to being allowed to be women."

Divan Bed (1996)

At first glance, this seating furniture looks tempting. In reality, however, it consists of hard corrugated sheet metal .

Untitled (wheelchair) (1998)

Here, too, the viewer is confronted with ambiguity: a wheelchair made of steel with handles in the shape of knives.

Home (1999)

Metal kitchen objects such as funnels, sieves, puree presses, vegetable slicers, a meat grinder and a whisk are grouped in the manner of a still life on a wooden table top about two meters long, which lies on a metal frame with wheels. Electric cables connect the kitchen tools, the current flowing through lights lightbulbs under some of the objects. The viewer is kept away from the table by metal wires that are stretched in front of the installation, the noise of electrical sparks reinforces the impression of danger. The kitchen, traditionally a place of security, is a life-threatening place.

“I see this as a work that shakes notions of the security of the home environment and the area in which the feminine resides. Because I've always had a split relationship with notions of home, family and the care expected in this context, I often want to introduce physical or psychological restlessness to counter such expectations. "

- Mona Hatoum

Hot Spot III (2009)

This wire mesh globe is over two meters in diameter and shows the latitude and longitude. Red neon light follows the contours of the continents. The globe is inclined a few degrees to the left; this corresponds to the inclination of the earth, but gives the impression of instability.

“A grid is above all a grid. It divides, it delimits. It allows the gaze to pass, but it locks the body in. The globe from Hot Spot III also looks like a prison. "

- Rainald Schumacher

Natura morta (cabinet with curved front) (2012)

Rainbow-colored objects made of reflecting Murano glass are exhibited in a noble-looking display cabinet made of dark wood . First of all, one thinks of splendid garden balls, such as those placed on sticks to beautify the garden, or of pomegranates . But here too, a second glance reveals a false bottom: the balls are shaped like hand grenades .

"As is so often the case with Hatoum, it is also an ironic-political commentary on today's world shaken by crises and a call to look behind the surface of things."

- Nathalie kitchens

Videos

So Much I Want to Say (1983)

This almost five-minute black and white video shows individual still images of the face of a woman whose mouth is covered. A satellite transmission that took place between Vancouver and Vienna in December 1983 is documented here using slow-scan technology. The phrase "So Much I Want to Say" is repeated over and over with the pictures.

Measures of Distance (1988)

In Measures of Distance stills can be seen from Monas mother in the shower, the Mona has made in the family home. Above it are the Arabic lettering of an authentic letter from her mother to Mona. The artist reads the English translation of the letter. This is one of the few works in which Mona Hatoum explicitly includes her biography. Here she deals with her situation after the outbreak of the Lebanon War, in which she was suddenly cut off from her family and it took months to see her mother again. The letters of the letter, which are placed over the picture of the woman, make one think of barbed wire, of a captured woman.

Corps Etranger (1994)

In this video installation, which helped her to be nominated for the Turner Prize , she makes her own body the subject again: a camera first films the surface of the body and then penetrates the interior through the body orifices. This work attracted attention at the 1995 Venice Biennale .

Deep Throat (1996)

A small table is set for eating: white tablecloth, plates, cutlery, serviette. The inner surface of the plate consists of a round monitor that shows one of the sequences from Corps Etranger . Looking down the throat creates discomfort in the viewer. The title of the work refers to the 1972 porn film Deep Throat (film) .

Works in public collections (selection)

Works from the 20th century

Works from the 21st century

Exhibitions (selection)

Further exhibitions to date can be found under the given web link Art Aspects.

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Awards

Memberships and offices

literature

Publications on the occasion of exhibitions

  • Ingvild Goetz , Rainald Schumacher, Larissa Michelberger (eds.): Mona Hatoum. on the occasion of the exhibition Mona Hatoum, Goetz Collection, Munich, November 21, 2011 - April 5, 2012, German and English, Hatje Cantz Verlag , Ostfildern 2012, ISBN 978-3-7757-3153-9 .
  • Christoph Heinrich: Mona Hatoum. on the occasion of the exhibition "Mona Hatoum", Hamburger Kunsthalle, March 26 to May 31, 2004, Kunstmuseum Bonn, June 17 to August 29, 2004 and Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, October 9 to December 19, 2004, Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern 2004, ISBN 3-7757-1443-X .
  • Nathalie Küchen: Mona Hatoum. In: Georg-Kolbe-Museum (Ed.): Vanitas - Eternal is nothing. Exhibition catalog, Berlin 2014, p. 46.

Web links

Commons : Mona Hatoum  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andrea Backhaus: Instead of banter, a wheelchair full of knife blades. In: Die Welt , April 11, 2014, online document , accessed October 3, 2014.
  2. ↑ a b Christiane Weidemann: Mona Hatoum. With a heightened awareness of political injustice, Mona Hatoum processes experiences of institutional power and violence as well as the threat and vulnerability of the individual in her work. In: Christiane Weidemann, Petra Larass, Melanie Klier (eds.): 50 women artists you should know. Prestel, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-7913-3957-3 , p. 137.
  3. ^ Ingvild Goetz : encounter - Encounter. In: Ingvild Goetz , Rainald Schumacher, Larissa Michelberger (eds.): Mona Hatoum. on the occasion of the exhibition Mona Hatoum, Goetz Collection, Munich, November 21, 2011 - April 5, 2012, German and English, Hatje Cantz Verlag , Ostfildern 2012, ISBN 978-3-7757-3153-9 , p. 14.
  4. ^ Rainald Schumacher: '' Mona Hatoum: Doppelklang. Organic arabesques and narrative grids. '', In: Ingvild Goetz , Rainald Schumacher, Larissa Michelberger (eds.): '' Mona Hatoum. '', Hatje Cantz Verlag Ostfildern, 2011, pp. 20–44, p. 25
  5. ↑ Michael Archer, Guy Brett, Catherine de Zegher : Mona Hatoum. Contemporary Artists Series London, 1997, ISBN 0714836605 , quoted from: Christoph Heinrich: Artist at Work. Annotated catalog raisonné of the performances. Michael Archer, Christoph Heinrich n (Ed.): Mona Hatoum. Publication on the occasion of the exhibition Mona Hatoum in the Hamberger Kunsthalle, March 26 to May 31, 2004, Kunstmuseum Bonn June 17 to August 29, 2004, Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, October 9 to December 19, 2004, Hatje Cantz Verlag Ostfildern, ISBN 3-7757-1443-X , pp. 81-129, p. 101.
  6. ↑ Lars Reichardt, Nan Goldin (photo): Do I really need that? In: Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin. 2012, accessed on May 8, 2012 (issue 18/2012).
  7. ^ Supplement to the exhibition Mona Hatoum Le Creux de L'Enfer, Center d'Art Contemporain, Thiers 1999, translated by Rainald Schumacher, quoted from: Rainald Schumacher: '' Mona Hatoum: Doppelklang. Organic arabesques and narrative grids. '', In: Ingvild Goetz , Rainald Schumacher, Larissa Michelberger (Eds.): '' Mona Hatoum. '', Hatje Cantz Verlag Ostfildern, 2011, ISBN 978-3-7757-3153-9 , Pp. 20-44, pp. 38..
  8. ^ Rainald Schumacher: '' Mona Hatoum: Doppelklang. Organic arabesques and narrative grids. '', In: Ingvild Goetz , Rainald Schumacher, Larissa Michelberger (Eds.): '' Mona Hatoum. '', Hatje Cantz Verlag Ostfildern, 2011, ISBN 978-3-7757-3153-9 , Pp. 20-44, pp. 31..
  9. ↑ Nathalie Kitchens: Mona Hatoum. In: Georg-Kolbe-Museum (Ed.): Vanitas - Eternal is nothing. Exhibition catalog, Berlin 2014, p. 46.
  10. ↑ Video documentation of Mona Hatoum's performances and video works in the Goetz Collection, in: Ingvild Goetz , Rainald Schumacher, Larissa Michelberger (Eds.): Mona Hatoum. on the occasion of the exhibition Mona Hatoum, Goetz Collection, Munich, November 21, 2011 - April 5, 2012, German and English, Hatje Cantz Verlag , Ostfildern 2012, ISBN 978-3-7757-3153-9 , p. 76.
  11. ↑ Mona Hatoum in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  12. ^ Ingvild Goetz : encounter - Encounter. In: Ingvild Goetz , Rainald Schumacher, Larissa Michelberger (eds.): Mona Hatoum. on the occasion of the exhibition Mona Hatoum, Goetz Collection, Munich, November 21, 2011 - April 5, 2012, German and English, Hatje Cantz Verlag , Ostfildern 2012, ISBN 978-3-7757-3153-9 , p. 13.
  13. ^ Artwork "So Much I Want to Say" , French, accessed on October 19, 2014.
  14. ^ Artwork "Measures of Distance" , English, accessed on October 19, 2014.
  15. ^ Artwork "Silence" , accessed on October 19, 2014.
  16. ^ Artwork "Divan Bed" , English, accessed on October 19, 2014.
  17. ↑ Artwork "Current Disturbance" ( Memento of the original from March 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , English, accessed October 19, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.english.imjnet.org.il
  18. ^ Artwork "Pin Rug" , English, accessed on October 22, 2014.
  19. ^ Artwork "Untitled (Wheelchair)" , English, accessed on October 19, 2014.
  20. ↑ Artwork "Home" ( Memento of the original from October 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , English, accessed October 22, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.modernamuseet.se
  21. ↑ artwork "balançoires de fer" , accessed October 18, 2014.
  22. ^ Artwork "Kefije" , accessed on October 18, 2014.
  23. ↑ artwork "Grater Divide" , accessed October 19, 2014.
  24. ↑ artwork "Entrail Carpets' , English, accessed October 22, 2014.
  25. ↑ artwork "Entrail Carpets' , English, accessed October 22, 2014.
  26. ↑ artwork "Cube (9x9x9)" , English retrieved on October 19, 2014.
  27. ^ Announcement on the 2009 exhibition , accessed on October 4, 2014.
  28. ↑ Vídeo de la exposición Le Grand Monde de Mona Hatoum. In: fundacionbotin.org. Retrieved July 16, 2016 (Spanish).
  29. ^ Announcement on the exhibition in Beirut (2010) , English, accessed on October 4, 2014.
  30. ↑ mass human behavior. In: FAZ . December 19, 2011, p. 28.
  31. ^ Brita Sachs: Massenmenschhaltung A collection in Munich shows the work of the Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum. The focus is on an integrity that is not. December 18, 2012, accessed October 3, 2014.
  32. ^ Announcement on the 2012 exhibition , accessed on October 3, 2014.
  33. ↑ With skin and hair and bright red hearts. In: FAZ . January 4, 2014, p. 37.
  34. ^ Announcement on the exhibition , accessed on October 3, 2014.
  35. ↑ Museum page on the 2014 solo exhibition , accessed on May 1, 2014.
  36. ↑ Vanitas - Eternal is nothing, June 15 - August 31, 2014 ( Memento from October 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  37. ^ Museum of Fine Arts Leipzig: Ayşe Erkmen & Mona Hatoum - Museum of Fine Arts Leipzig. Retrieved January 18, 2018 (German).
  38. ↑ Miró Prize goes to Mona Hatoum The Palestinian-British artist receives the Joan Miró Prize 2011, endowed with 70,000 euros. In: art. The art magazine. February 8, 2011 ( Memento of the original from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 3, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.art-magazin.de
  39. ↑ Mona Hatoum receives 4th Ruth Baumgarte Art Prize. In: www.ruth-baumgarte.com. Retrieved May 30, 2018 .
  40. ^ Entry "Hatoum, Mona" in the Munzinger archive, accessed on October 4, 2010.
personal data
SURNAME Hatoum, Mona
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Palestinian-British artist
DATE OF BIRTH February 11, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Beirut