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Monica Bonvicini: I do You

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A Special Exhibition of the National Gallery - National Museums in Berlin

The exhibition "I do You" presents new site-specific architectural installations, sculptural objects, performative and sonic works, as well as a selection of well-known works from the internationally renowned oeuvre of Monica Bonvicini. The show offers a completely new perception of space, which can be experienced in the interplay of seeing, hearing and direct physical interaction with some of the works.

Monica Bonvicini Never Again, 2005 Galvanized steel pipes, black leather, black leather men's belts, galvanized chains, clamps Approx. 350 x 1600 x 1100 cm Courtesy the artist © Monica Bonvicini and VG-Bildkunst, Bonn / Photo: Rikke Luna
Monica Bonvicini Never Again, 2005 Galvanized steel pipes, black leather, black leather men's belts, galvanized chains, clamps Approx. 350 x 1600 x 1100 cm Courtesy the artist © Monica Bonvicini and VG-Bildkunst, Bonn / Photo: Rikke Luna © Monica Bonvicini Never Again, 2005 Galvanized steel pipes, black leather, black leather men's belts, galvanized chains, clamps Approx. 350 x 1600 x 1100 cm Courtesy the artist © Monica Bonvicini and VG-Bildkunst, Bonn / Photo: Rikke Luna

In her exhibition "I do You," Monica Bonvicini transforms Mies van der Rohe's modernist architecture through a radical feminist vandalism typical of her interventions.
The interplay with performative interventions and sculptural works results in a multi-layered narrative that invites us to question outdated categories and examine some previously overlooked aspects of the museum.

Bonvicini turns the building, and by extension public space, into a negotiating plane of the private:
How do we interact in space? What structures and power relations are inscribed in the floor, the walls, or the transparent glass façade?

As so often in her interventions, the space of the Neue Nationalgalerie is fundamentally redefined: Visual and sound worlds, reflections and refractions form an ensemble of different voices. The environment is transformed in this multisensory dissonance, a disturbance that asserts itself and destabilizes at the same time.

With "I do You" architecture can be understood like a leading role in a play.
The environment becomes a stage on which architecture can show itself in a particularly open and revealing way. In this sense, the Neue Nationalgalerie assumes a dual function: it is both exhibition venue and subject.

By exposing historically established architectural narratives and questioning their legitimacy, Bonvicini opens up a discursive space that blurs the boundaries between inside and outside, private and public.

As early as 1998, Bonvicini's sculpture "2 Tons Old National Gallery" dealt with the massive urban reconstruction process that was taking place in Berlin at the time. Many of the conversions served not only to repair and renew, but also to engage with the political history of the growing metropolis.

More than twenty years later, the artist now engages with the iconic building of the Neue Nationalgalerie. Bonvicini explores the hidden mechanisms of Western "modernism," its sexual charges, and the exaggerations and mythifications that accompany them.

The gender relations and social orders firmly inscribed in the architecture and the museum are exposed, unmasked, and destabilized by the artist in an ironic and playful manner. Bonvicini's sculptures are to be understood here as invitations to enter new spaces of experience.

The Neue Nationalgalerie presents Monica Bonvicini's new solo exhibition, paying tribute to her as one of the most important and influential contemporary artists.


  • Curated by Joachim Jäger and Irina Hiebert Grun, Neue Nationalgalerie.
  • The exhibition is made possible by the Friends of the National Gallery.
Monica Bonvicini Never Again, 2005 Galvanized steel pipes, black leather, black leather men's belts, galvanized chains, clamps Approx. 350 x 1600 x 1100 cm Courtesy the artist © Monica Bonvicini and VG-Bildkunst, Bonn / Photo: Rikke Luna
© Monica Bonvicini Never Again, 2005 Galvanized steel pipes, black leather, black leather men's belts, galvanized chains, clamps Approx. 350 x 1600 x 1100 cm Courtesy the artist © Monica Bonvicini and VG-Bildkunst, Bonn / Photo: Rikke Luna

Monica Bonvicini Never Again, 2005 Galvanized steel pipes, black leather, black leather men's belts, galvanized chains, clamps Approx. 350 x 1600 x 1100 cm Courtesy the artist © Monica Bonvicini and VG-Bildkunst, Bonn / Photo: Rikke Luna

Monica Bonvicini Be Your Mirror, 2020 Aluminium panels, PU foam 396 x 950 x 2,8 cm [HxWxD] Courtesy the artist and Sammlung Wemhöner © Monica Bonvicini and VG-Bildkunst, Bonn / Photo: Anna Lott Donadel
© Monica Bonvicini Be Your Mirror, 2020 Aluminium panels, PU foam 396 x 950 x 2,8 cm [HxWxD] Courtesy the artist and Sammlung Wemhöner © Monica Bonvicini and VG-Bildkunst, Bonn / Photo: Anna Lott Donadel

Monica Bonvicini Be Your Mirror, 2020 Aluminium panels, PU foam 396 x 950 x 2,8 cm [HxWxD] Courtesy the artist and Sammlung Wemhöner © Monica Bonvicini and VG-Bildkunst, Bonn / Photo: Anna Lott Donadel

Monica Bonvicini Wallfuckin’, 1995/96 48 min b/w video, monitor, wood panels, drywall panels, aluminum studs, bricks, plaster, white paint, door 250 x 310 x 330 cm Courtesy the artist © Monica Bonvicini and VG-Bildkunst, Bonn / Photo: Jan Ralske
© Monica Bonvicini Wallfuckin’, 1995/96 48 min b/w video, monitor, wood panels, drywall panels, aluminum studs, bricks, plaster, white paint, door 250 x 310 x 330 cm Courtesy the artist © Monica Bonvicini and VG-Bildkunst, Bonn / Photo: Jan Ralske

Monica Bonvicini Wallfuckin’, 1995/96 48 min b/w video, monitor, wood panels, drywall panels, aluminum studs, bricks, plaster, white paint, door 250 x 310 x 330 cm Courtesy the artist © Monica Bonvicini and VG-Bildkunst, Bonn / Photo: Jan Ralske

Monica Bonvicini, „2 Tonnen Alte Nationalgalerie“, 1998 Bauschutt der Fassade der Alten Nationalgalerie Berlin; C-print Courtesy the artist © Monica Bonvicini und VG-Bildkunst, Bonn /Foto: Stefan Altenburger
© Monica Bonvicini, „2 Tonnen Alte Nationalgalerie“, 1998 Bauschutt der Fassade der Alten Nationalgalerie Berlin; C-print Courtesy the artist © Monica Bonvicini und VG-Bildkunst, Bonn /Foto: Stefan Altenburger

Monica Bonvicini, „2 Tonnen Alte Nationalgalerie“, 1998 Bauschutt der Fassade der Alten Nationalgalerie Berlin; C-print Courtesy the artist © Monica Bonvicini und VG-Bildkunst, Bonn /Foto: Stefan Altenburger

Monica Bonvicini Never Again, 2005 Galvanized steel pipes, black leather, black leather men's belts, galvanized chains, clamps Approx. 350 x 1600 x 1100 cm Courtesy the artist © Monica Bonvicini and VG-Bildkunst, Bonn / Photo: Rikke Luna Monica Bonvicini Be Your Mirror, 2020 Aluminium panels, PU foam 396 x 950 x 2,8 cm [HxWxD] Courtesy the artist and Sammlung Wemhöner © Monica Bonvicini and VG-Bildkunst, Bonn / Photo: Anna Lott Donadel Monica Bonvicini Wallfuckin’, 1995/96 48 min b/w video, monitor, wood panels, drywall panels, aluminum studs, bricks, plaster, white paint, door 250 x 310 x 330 cm Courtesy the artist © Monica Bonvicini and VG-Bildkunst, Bonn / Photo: Jan Ralske Monica Bonvicini, „2 Tonnen Alte Nationalgalerie“, 1998 Bauschutt der Fassade der Alten Nationalgalerie Berlin; C-print Courtesy the artist © Monica Bonvicini und VG-Bildkunst, Bonn /Foto: Stefan Altenburger

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