Rachel Monosov “The Blind Leader”

Catinca Tabacaru

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Catinca Tabacaru presents artist Rachel Monosov’s second solo exhibition with the gallery, featuring The Blind Leader, a new body of work composed largely of models for imposing limitations on the human body, and manipulating the mind. This continues Monosov’s multidisciplinary practice which consistently [and precisely] addresses micro and macro social implications woven through autobiographical context.

A banana lies on the floor of the gallery, just outside [or in front of] a fence, A Welcome Gift, inscribed with words in Russian: “my first banana 1991.”

Loaded with such minimalistic forms made from industrial materials, the works invite viewers to be both performer and witness. The Waiting Room is a metal fencing enclosure - allowing a mental or physical occupation of the space within. The fencing could be transgressed, but the weight of culture seems to make the actors obedient. Through its title, Monosov reflects on “waiting” as an existential state of existence.

At the meeting point between object and body, is a forced gesture. The limitation of one’s movements is imposed, and quickly becomes one’s nature, without being natural at all. Once conditioned, what actions can one take? Each model creates a scenario that requires a wrestling with social construction.

The fingerprint taken at a border has a hint of criminality built into the process of identification. This constant suspicion of the individual is highlighted in Monosov’s presentation of Fingerprint. Held by the neck and around the knee, the mobility of the body is challenged while an imprint equivalent in uniqueness and wonder to those found in imposing geological formations is taken as a form of intrusion and control.

The space; a scenography of a state; a proposal [of a conditional state]. An artist looking for solutions in a system where the language must change. Performative; but instead of choreographing the body, Monosov creates objects to do so. Much as the blind leader has his system of control, rendering us passive; the artist reflects such systems, requiring active thought and movement [a silent protest].

Further: The Blind Leader, Essay by Mariette Papic
RACHEL MONOSOV (b. 1987, St. Petersburgh, Russia)

Monosov holds two MFAs in Filmmaking and Fine Art from The Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK) in Ghent, Belgium, and her BA from Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem, Israel. In the past two years, she has exhibited at the Zimbabwe Pavilion of the 57th Venice Biennale in collaboration with artist Admire Kamudzengerere, at the 11th Bamako Biennial, and at the Dakar Biennial; and in museum exhibitions at the BOZAR and Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens in Belgium, and the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare. Her work has been acquired into the permanent collections of the Block Museum at Northwestern University and The Art Institute of Chicago, among other international public and private collections. Monosov has exhibited in galleries, foundations and film festivals globally, and has been the subject of much critical acclaim. She is a co-founder of the CTG Collective, and currently lives and works in Berlin.