Artist: Monia Ben Hamouda
Exhibition title: Extended protection, Allegoric defence
Curated by: Camilla Edström Ödemark
Venue: CC Gallery, Malmö, Sweden
Date: April 5 – 28, 2019
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and CC Gallery, Malmö
Widely reported: the invasion of non-organic matter in soft tissues. Extensions of the senses and emotions as devices designed to fit perfectly in human hands. The intimate relation between bodies and technology, a mixing of fluids with fluids, of bodily matters with industrially derived compounds. The embrace of titanium and polymers that keeps hearts beating at a steady pace as the very idea of being human is slowly disintegrating. Bodies displayed as intrinsically artificial. Machines displayed as intrinsically human. Borders between subject and object becoming obsolete. This is the end of (hu)-man in the peak of the Anthropocene. This is not the era of ours only. This is the era of human as refugee. This is the shift where we become posthuman.
(Have you ever tried to understand reality without dichotomy and essentialism?)
A political coalition between the line of affinity. Fragile talismans assembled with the promise of power. As humans to reality, they too are linked and forced to remain together, in a radical now where a choice is made in perpetuum; to get closer or to part? The relation between object-subject blurred. Dynamic premises: you find yourself connected to/ through this object, as it is to/through you. Inseparable, you are in relation to reality. In order to be anchored in reality, you need to accept another order; you need to acknowledge the world as magical.
A reality that is not human-centered, but where Things exist equally. It is in resonance with your own body that the amulets and talismans will gain their power. In the grip of a hand, they will connect to the body as extensions. These seemingly passive objects, intertwined with your own being, intermingled as gateways between your own limitations and the outer-world. Reaching out like tentacles towards the horizon. Where the world collide in an omnipotent and everlasting commitment.
Monia Ben Hamouda (Milan,1991) is an italian born, tunisian roots visual artist.
Her work, mostly sculptural, has an almost intangible quality, creating a deep sense of post-digital unease through her perfectly curated combinations of organic and synthetic materials. She earned her diploma in Visual Arts – Sculpture – from Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Milan. Her work has been exhibited at Et.al gallery (San Francisco); The Wrong Digital Art Biennale (Hong Kong); Werkschauhalle (Lipsia); Yongma Charm (Seoul); Ginny Projects (London); OJ (Istanbul); RivoliDue, Bocconi Art Gallery, Milano Film Festival, PANEproject, Marsèlleria Permanent Exhibition and VIAFARINI (Milan) ; Like a Little Disaster (Polignano a Mare); UNIVERSITÄTSSAMMLUNGEN KUNST and ALTANAGalerie (Dresden); Link Art Center For The Arts Of The Information Age (Brescia); Haunt (Yogyakarta). She was awarded the Filmidee summer residency in Sardinia Island (2015), the Academy Awards residency at Viafarini in Milan (2016), and selected as youngest- jury member at Film Maker Festival in Milan (2014). Her work has been reviewed, among others, in Mousse, ATPdiary, CURA, Panorama, La Repubblica, Artviewer, Schirn mag, We find wildness, Artslant LA, Contemporary art curator, Fruit of the forest, Istanbul art news, Syg, Ofluxo, Tzvetnik, Aujourd’ hui, Young Black Romantics.
Camilla Edström Ödemark (.land, 1985) is a Finnish visual artist based in Oslo and Malmö. She has an BFA from Konstfack, Stockholm and has studied at the Royal Art College, Stockholm, and at Södertörn University, Stockholm. She’s a chair member of Galleri CC since December 2017. In 2018 she received a 1-y working grant from the Swedish Cultural Foundation, alongside awards from Oskar Öflunds Foundation; Malmö City and the Art Foundation of Finland. Her work has been shown at Sinne (Helsinki); Isthisit? (London); Spriten Kunsthalle (Skien); Collective Misnomer (Denver); Galleri 54 (Gothenburg); Schimmel Projects (Dresden) among others.
Galleri CC was founded in 2003 and is located in the residential neighborhood of East Sorgenfri, Malmö. The group of artists running the gallery take on the roles of curators, embody and partake in exhibition concepts in collaborations with artists invited by the gallery. The gallery participated in Supermarket Art Fair, Stockholm; Art Swap Europe, Berlin; Alt_Cph Art Fair, Copenhagen; Art Safari, Bucharest; and collaborated with Den Nordiske Ambassade, Copenhagen; Alta, Malmö; Galleria Rajatila, Tampere; WIZARD Gallery, Oslo; OK Corral, Copenhagen; HilbertRaum, Berlin; Schimmel Project, Dresden. Gallery committee 2018: Benjamin Andersson (SE), Emm Berring (SE), Arngrímur Borg.órsson (IS), Camilla Edström Ödemark (FIN), Maja Gade (DK), Madelaine Sillfors (SE), Linus Svensson (SE), Sofia Wickman (SE), Johan Engqvist (SE). Galleri CC is funded by Malmö City and Kulturrådet.
Monia Ben Hamouda, Extended protection, Allegoric defence, 2019, exhibition view, CC Gallery, Malmö
Monia Ben Hamouda, Lay Down Arms (dog), 2019, Leather sofa, plaster, string, water, plastic, feathers, sweater, 255x180x155cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Lay Down Arms (dog), 2019, Leather sofa, plaster, string, water, plastic, feathers, sweater, 255x180x155cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Lay Down Arms (dog), 2019, Leather sofa, plaster, string, water, plastic, feathers, sweater, 255x180x155cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Lay Down Arms (dog), 2019, Leather sofa, plaster, string, water, plastic, feathers, sweater, 255x180x155cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Lay Down Arms (dog), 2019, Leather sofa, plaster, string, water, plastic, feathers, sweater, 255x180x155cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Lay Down Arms (dog), 2019, Leather sofa, plaster, string, water, plastic, feathers, sweater, 255x180x155cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Trophy (Extended protection), 2019, Plaster, iron, water, plastic, feathers, cables, 120x45x30cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Trophy (Extended protection), 2019, Plaster, iron, water, plastic, feathers, cables, 120x45x30cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Trophy (Extended protection), 2019, Plaster, iron, water, plastic, feathers, cables, 120x45x30cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Trophy (Extended protection), 2019, Plaster, iron, water, plastic, feathers, cables, 120x45x30cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Trophy (Extended protection), 2019, Plaster, iron, water, plastic, feathers, cables, 120x45x30cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Extended protection, Allegoric defence, 2019, exhibition view, CC Gallery, Malmö
Monia Ben Hamouda, Extended protection, Allegoric defence, 2019, exhibition view, CC Gallery, Malmö
Monia Ben Hamouda, Extended protection, Allegoric defence, 2019, exhibition view, CC Gallery, Malmö
Monia Ben Hamouda, Selfportrait I, 2019, Sea clay, branch, 125x40x20cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Selfportrait I, 2019, Sea clay, branch, 125x40x20cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Selfportrait I, 2019, Sea clay, branch, 125x40x20cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Extended protection, Allegoric defence, 2019, exhibition view, CC Gallery, Malmö
Monia Ben Hamouda, Trophy (Allegoric defence), 2019, Roe horn, Plaster, string, feathers, 180x30x30cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Trophy (Allegoric defence), 2019, Roe horn, Plaster, string, feathers, 180x30x30cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Trophy (Allegoric defence), 2019, Roe horn, Plaster, string, feathers, 180x30x30cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Trophy (Allegoric defence), 2019, Roe horn, Plaster, string, feathers, 180x30x30cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Extended protection, Allegoric defence, 2019, exhibition view, CC Gallery, Malmö
Monia Ben Hamouda, Lay Down Arms (archer), 2019, Armchair, plaster, string, iron, feathers, 150x100x80cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Lay Down Arms (archer), 2019, Armchair, plaster, string, iron, feathers, 150x100x80cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Extended protection, Allegoric defence, 2019, exhibition view, CC Gallery, Malmö
Monia Ben Hamouda, Lay Down Arms (relaxed), 2019, Armchair, plaster, string, branches, plastic, feathers, water, 280x150x105cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Lay Down Arms (relaxed), 2019, Armchair, plaster, string, branches, plastic, feathers, water, 280x150x105cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Lay Down Arms (relaxed), 2019, Armchair, plaster, string, branches, plastic, feathers, water, 280x150x105cm
Monia Ben Hamouda, Lay Down Arms (relaxed), 2019, Armchair, plaster, string, branches, plastic, feathers, water, 280x150x105cm