Yesterday I recorded a segment for New York Public Radio (WNYC) on the just opened exhibition of Monika Sosnowska’s “Tower” at Hauser & Wirth (to Oct. 25). Fabricated for the gallery’s sprawling space (a former roller rink) from steel I-beams and related hardware (including window handles), it’s a riff on the frame of Mies van der Rohe‘s Lake Short Drive Apartments in Chicago, filtered through the sensibility of a Polish artist who grew up with a historical architectural landscape ranging from Polish constructivism to the Socialist architecture of Soviet satellites.
As I mentioned, the piece reminded me of this Kiefer that I saw last year at MASS MoCA—a snake-like concrete ruin, instead of a steel one:
You can get a sense of “Tower’s” monumental scale from the tiny size of the gallery-goer in my photo (at top of this post), standing at the far end of the mangled metal (on the right).
Here’s my WNYC rave review:
As I mentioned in my commentary, you need to experience the complexities of this swirling jumble by walking around its entire perimeter and sticking your head inside (although you’re not permitted to walk within). It’s a mesmerizing journey.
To give you a snippet of that, here’s my 38-second video: