BERLIN.- I do You by the artist Monica Bonvicini is a sculptural appropriation of the Neue Nationalgalerie’s architecture: a huge mirrored wall on the façade and a large-scale pedestal in the exhibition hall defy the transparent, expansive nature of the space and open up unfamiliar perspectives for visitors. In addition to these specially developed, site-specific installations, visitors will also see sculptural objects, performative and sound pieces by the Berlin-based artist from the 1990s to the present. I do You turns Mies van der Rohe’s iconic museum space into a reflection on the traditionally masculine connotations of the power of architecture.

Bonvicini’s site-specific installations at the Neue Nationalgalerie represent a feminist appropriation of the space conceived by Mies van der Rohe, which she fundamentally changes by means of architectural interventions. Already the entrance is obstructed by a wall that leans against the high roof and towers above it. Inside, an accessible platform redefines the exhibition hall, which normally emphasizes expansiveness and transparency. The mirrored platform opens up unusual perspectives for the visitors bringing them to confront themselves and their presence within the space and offers them a view of the hall, its glass walls, and its exterior surroundings from an elevated vantage point.

In addition to the architectural interventions, selected sculptural works from Bonvicini's oeuvre are on display, with which visitors can also interact: for example, her usable Chainswings (2022) are integrated into the exhibition, each designed for two people, creating a visual connection to subversive actions and spaces through their materiality of steel and chains. A series of new light works, consisting of LED neon tubes hand-woven with electrical cables, illuminate a corner of the hall as a sculptural structure. The object Blind Shot – Wallsucker (2005) from the Nationalgalerie’s collection is also part of the exhibition: a drill colored with black spray paint that starts moving loudly every five minutes above the heads of the visitors. Also on view is the early work 2 Tonnen Alte Nationalgalerie (1998), which consists of vast amounts of rubble removed from the neo-classical facade of the Alte Nationalgalerie. While walking on the terrace around the glass hall, visitors can hear the sound piece Retrospective (2022), which highlights Bonvicini’s conceptual use of language: a voice recites numerous titles of artworks that Bonvicini has created over three decades. In conjunction with other light, film, and sound works, the exhibition conveys Bonvicini’s diversity of media and her central themes of feminism and architecture, as well as the questioning of the role of the institution.

The exhibition title I do You, formulated as an imperative, is deliberately kept ambiguous. Understood as "I want you", Bonvicini lets the museum speak to the city as a place of cultural production. At the same time, I do You reads as a provocative announcement by the artist to the institution to occupy the building inside and outside.

Bonvicini has devoted herself to the subject of architecture for years. Her main focus is on the often overlooked, hidden ideologies that underlie Western modernism. Their logic and myths, as well as their gender-specific classifications, are repeatedly revealed and ironically destabilized by the artist. Each of her exhibitions emerges from a precise reflection on the given space, which she often massively alters: she installs additional walls, erects fences or scaffolding, builds staircases or reflective surfaces, and much more. “I do You” is a consistent continuation of these approaches, which Bonvicini developed early on. Her artistic interventions can be understood as an attack on a chauvinistic supremacy in architecture in order to reclaim and reoccupy space. In inviting Bonvicini, the Neue Nationalgalerie pays tribute to a Berlin-based artist who has established herself internationally and whose art persistently questions outdated categories and examines overlooked aspects of the museum.