Joan Jonas: Mirror Piece I & II (1969/2025)

Joan Jonas: Mirror Piece I & II (1969/2025)Wed, 10 September – Sat, 13 September 2025: 5.15 - 5.45 pmSun, 14 September 2025: 4.15 - 4.45 pmLocation: Neue Nationalgalerie terrace"Mirror Piece" is a groundbreaking performance created and first performed by the American artist Joan Jonas in 1969. The work is considered one of the earliest and most influential examples of feminist and conceptual performance art in the USA and was instrumental in redefining the boundaries between visual art, performance and gender representation.Several performers carry mirrors and plexiglass plates in synchronised, choreographed movements. As the piece unfolds, the moving mirrors reflect and fragment the audience, the performers and the environment, blurring the boundary between audience and actors.
"The mirror was a metaphor for me. A device to alter the image and to include the audience as reflection, making them uneasy as they view themselves in public," says Joan Jonas.
Joan Jonas (*1936, New York) is a pioneer of performance and video art who has been working with mirrors, texts and body movements since the 1960s. Her works thematise identity, gender and perception and have had a lasting influence on contemporary art.
Performer:
Caroline Beach Jennie Boultbee Florencia Martina Tatiana Mejía Mica Kupfer YeoJin Kim Mila Nhu-Nhien Horst Zeina Hanna Ana Libório Narin Mohammadi Obitse Omagbeni Kareth Schaffer Benca Ungvari Tim Winter Betül Yildirim
Movement Director:
Nefeli Skarmea