Espoo Museum of Modern Art

Monika Sosnowska, Handrail (detail), 2016/2024. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth © Paula Virta / EMMA
Monika Sosnowska, Handrail (detail), 2016/2024. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth © Paula Virta / EMMA

06.03.2024 - 15.12.2024

Monika Sosnowska: An Order Apart

Sculptor Monika Sosnowska (b. 1972) is known for her architectonic sculptures that she makes out of building materials. What especially interests her is the impact that architecture and space have on people, and the difficulty of changing existing structures.  

The large-scale works interact directly with the architecture of the exhibition space. They offer the viewer a new perspective on the architecture of the WeeGee building and its history as a printing house. In her works, Sosnowska uses identifiable materials: steel beams, concrete, and reinforcing bars. She turns familiar, even quite mundane ingredients, into something surprising, changing the way we look at them. 

The artist’s interest in altering meanings and materials, as well as her interest in modernism, originates from her youth in Poland during the turn of the 1980s and 1990s.  At that time, the country’s political system changed from people’s republic to democracy, and this had a far-reaching impact on society as well as the environment. Sosnowska’s works comment, among other things, on the significance of the buildings from the socialist era and on people’s relationship to them. 

Exhibition on the media

Manu Sharma, STIRworld, 27.10.2024
Monika Sosnowska’s sculptures question structural and ideological longevity

List of works

  • Handrail, 2016/2024, painted steel, PVC. Courtery the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
  • Rebar 16, 2017, painted steel. Courtery the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
  • H and Rebar, 2021, painted steel. Courtesy the artist and Fokal Gallery Foundation.
  • Pipe, 2020, painted steel. Courtesy the artist and Fokal Gallery Foundation.
  • Concrete and Rebar, 2023, concrete and rebar. Courtesy the artist and Fokal Gallery Foundation.
  • Concrete and Rebar, 2023, concrete and rebar. Courtesy the artist and Fokal Gallery Foundation.

Exhibition team

Curator: Pernilla Wiik
Project management: Ingrid Orman, Pernilla Wiik
Graphic design: Milla Rissanen
Technical design and construction: Jouni Harju, Kalle Jarva, Miika Kyyrö, Lasse Lindfors, Timo Luukkonen, Lasse Naukkarinen, Tarmo Venäläinen
Lighting: Lasse Lindfors
Conservation : Saara Peisa
Registration: Jenni Enbom, Maria Savela
Exhibition texts: Ingrid Orman, Nanne Raivio, Pernilla Wiik
Audience engagement and events program: Reetta Kalajo, Nanne Raivio
Guided tour design: Riikka Alanko, Sanna Rintalaulaja
Customer service design: Maija Eränen, Ilari Strandberg
Marketing and communications: Iris Suomi, Helmi Tolonen
Photography: Paula Virta
Service sales,visitor surveys : Essi Huhtanen
EMMA Shop: Mira Alanko, Salla Engström
EMMA customer service and guides
Translations: Theresa Norrmén (Swedish), Emilia Siltavuori (English)

The works were produced in collaboration with: Jan Lutyk / True Love, Andrzej Kaczmarczyk / Endik & Marcin Kapala

With Thanks to: Hauser & Wirth, Foksal Gallery Foundation

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