Monika Sosnowska

Monika Sosnowska’s (*1972 in Ryki, Poland) monumental work, Tower (2014), was inspired by designs of the iconic modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The artist begins with a steel section and twists it out of shape to create a sort of reclining figure, a lyrical sculptural object that usurps perfect structural engineering. Tower was fabricated in Michalow Reginow and bended and welded in Wieliszew, Poland, in 2014. It consists of ninety-six windows, thirty-four I-profiles, three hundred and eighty-four handles, and three hundred and eighty-four hinges. The project required about 1.5 kilometers of welding, and the sculpture weighs thirteen tons in total. Tower was subsequently disassembled into forty-nine elements, and shipped to New York, where it was reassembled and unveiled in the gallery space of Hauser & Wirth. This publication follows the sculptor’s process from the initial idea through intermediate steps of fabrication.   Exhibition: Hauser & Wirth New York 5.9.–25.10.2014