Monika Sosnowska is a Polish artist whose sculptural practice explores architecture and urban transformation. Spanning the Main Gallery and two floors of the Fire Station, her solo exhibition Weight of Matter brings together monumental sculptures made from steel, concrete and other industrial materials associated with modernist architecture.
Sosnowska’s work reflects on the implosion of the Communist regime in Poland and the legacy of modernism, with a particular focus on the impact that architecture and space have on people.
“Architecture serves to organise and give order. Socio-political systems are reflected in it. My works are about introducing chaos and uncertainty. They make reality cease to be obvious.” – Polish Cultural Institute
At the SLG, a site-specific installation at the Main Gallery showcases a group of large-scale hanging sculptures, some of which weigh over half a tonne. Suspended from the rafters like carcasses, or remnants of architectural and broader histories, the individual works merge into an intertwined and sometimes incomprehensible mass.
Over at the Fire Station, which dates back to 1867, Sosnowska’s works are positioned in direct response to the architecture and history of the building. A sculpture based on the form of a collapsed black metal staircase in the former engine room is in dialogue with the Fire Station’s white metal stairs. The adjacent gallery, which overlooks a leafy outdoor space, has been overtaken by sculptures in plant-like forms to create a concrete garden. Upstairs in what used to be the firemen’s living quarters, painted steel works suggest crumpled paper and peeling walls, harking back to the dilapidated state of the building before it was converted.
Sosnowska is best known for creating large-scale pieces using industrial materials but her ideas are developed through intricate paper models. Rarely seen outside the studio, these small-scale maquettes are being shown for the first time in London as part of Weight of Matter.
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