MONICA BONVICINI Tramway, Glasgow, Fri 12 Sep—Sun 19 Oct
In BEDTIMESSOUARE you can lie upon its inflatable, velvet covered mattress. Swing in the S&M leather hammock of Black and experience a gust equal to that of a hurricane in A Violent, Tropical, Cyclonic Piece of Art Having Wind Speeds of or in Excess of 75 Miles per Hour. Welcome to the interactive and stimulating world of Monica Bonvicini.
For her show at Tramway, the Italian-born artist seeks to challenge our traditional concepts of architecture and the built environment through installation, sculpture and film. Seeing architecture as an expression of male dominance, she deconstructs architectural spaces in order to reveal the ideas that shape them.
In the film piece Destroy She Said (1998), a double projection shows excerpts from films of the 505, 605 and 705. The work exposes the way in which directors frame the female bodies into architectural elements, be it against a door or in a doorway. BEDTIMESSOUARE (1999) is a square, bed-like structure based on a drawing from the 1996 series, Smart Quotations which relates to a work by Carl Andre. The exterior of the sculpture is made up of industrial materials - white ceramic tiles and slabs of compacted gravel — which is contrasted by the velvet mattress in the middle which Bonvicini has described as ‘Iike sleeping in a minimalist sculpture‘.
This interest in architecture to discuss art and explore issues of gender has long been a concern for Bonvicini. ‘When you deal with architecture and when you deal with sculpture, it's hard not to get into this gender issue,‘ she says. ‘Architecture and the history of art are very much male dominated. I really like this idea about
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gender as it gives you the possibility of being more feministic but in a more general sense.’
For the viewer, a Monica Bonvicini installation is a very physical experience as the body is engaged in the process of understanding the works. We are not kept at arms length, but encouraged to interact, to think more about where we are, what we are doing and why.
‘To make something that involves the reaction of the audience is a way of waking them up,’ says Bonvicini. ‘It can also be quite strange as you put something in a public space to get something back as well as giving something to the audience.’ Provocative, humorous and thought-provoking, this is a great chance to see a substantial body of work by this exciting and innovative artist. (Helen Monaghan)
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ARTBEAT
News from the world of art
NEW MEDIA SCOTLAND IS ON the hunt for participants for Drift, an exploration of sound art and experimental music featuring live events, radio broadcasts, moving images and publications. There are four opportunities to take part for a fee of £1000 to create a new radio artwork for broadcast online and on-air. Artists based in Scotland can apply, so for more information and an application form see http://www.mediascot.org/drift Wllll .JUSl l\‘.’() YE ARE; li) llll 700th {ll‘illl'.t?l33;ll‘, of \‘x’Illiain /‘\.’alia<:e's (leath. the Smith Alt Gallon, it; trying; to ({lITSt‘ ll‘.L).'lt}‘. to but a l/‘tl‘(1(.‘l‘i°ilil\ painting; 1)? Mil Gibson's; taxoiinte Supt lhw, have until tn an'nhei tn
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so if you are f(l‘(‘l|llt) generous. why not senrl a donation. to the appeals a<liiiiiiistiatnz_ Stirling; Smith Art (Ballei‘, anrl l\/lllf»(:lll"i. [)iinihaitonHoatl.Stirling, IKE-1 9H0.
’ k . Raising funds for William Wallace
APPLICATIONS ARE NOW invited for the annual Scottish Arts Council Creative Scotland awards. Ten awards of £30,000 each are available to allow recipients ‘to experiment, refresh and exercise their talents‘. Sounds like a good deal. Application forms are available from www.scottisharts.org.uk and the closing date is Friday 24 October.
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partimpants; of BBC", Castaway fared when they were holerl tip on the island of laransay. so how .‘Jlll a group of international (lrllSl'i get on? From 7—19 September. Qt) artists from Britain, Tibet. Trinidad. Cuba. Brad and Nepal Will be taking part in a two-week residential workshop on NOrth Uist in the Outer Hebrides. hosted by Taigh Chearsabhagh Art Centre. PartiCipants include Visual artists Ann Bevan. Stephen Skn/nka. Joile Brook. Co|in Kirkpatrick and The was fOIk expert and musician NOrman Chalmers. Any incriminating photographs Wlll. of cowse, be published in our next issue.