Produced on the occasion of the exhibition Cosima von Bonin, The Fatigue Empire at Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, July 18–October 3, 2010.
Cosima von Bonin came of age as an artist in the 1990s amid the storied art scene in Cologne. In her practice, mixed references to art history, popular culture, and music are seen in tandem with a destabilising approach to craft and domestic activities. Many of her recent installations are populated with casts of cartoonish fabric characters–fish, whales, mushrooms, dogs, rockets–whose endearing appearances conjure a range of contradictions: delight and horror, softness and rigidity, and humour and sorrow.
With essays by Yilmaz Dziewior, Mark von Schlegell, and John Welchman. Designed by Yvonne Quirmbach.