Monica Bonvicini was born in Venice in 1965. She lives and works in Berlin.

Monica Bonvicini emerged as visual artist and started exhibiting internationally in the mid-1990s. Her multifaceted practice—which investigates the relationship between architecture, power and gender—is translated into works that question the meaning of making art, the ambiguity of language, the limits and possibilities attached to the ideal of freedom. Dry-humored, direct, and imbued with historical, political and social references, Bonvicini’s art never refrains from establishing a critical connection with the sites where it is exhibited, the materials that comprise it, and the roles of spectator and creator. This approach, which has been at the core of her production since her first solo exhibition at the California Institute of the Arts in 1991, has formally evolved over the years without betraying its analytical force and inclination to challenge the viewer’s perspective while taking hefty sideswipes at socio-cultural conventions.

Bonvicini studied art in Berlin and at Cal Arts, Valencia, CA, USA. From 2003 to 2017 she was teaching Performative Arts and Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. In October 2017 she assumes the professorship for sculpture at the Universität der Künste, Berlin. The artist has earned several awards, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennial (1999); the Preis der Nationalgalerie für junge Kunst, from the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (2005); the Rolandpreis für public Art Bremen, Germany (2013), the Hans Platschek Prize for Art and Writing, Germany (2019); the 2019 Premio ACACIA alla Carriera, Milan; and the prestigious Oskar Kokoschka Prize, Vienna (2020). Her work has been featured in many prominent biennials, including Berlin (1998, 2004, 2014), La TriennaIe Paris (2012), Istanbul (2003, 2017), Gwangju (2006), New Orleans (2008), Venice (1999, 2001, 2005, 2011, 2015) and Busan (2020). She has had solo exhibitions at Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2002); Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, UK (2003); Secession, Vienna (2003); Staedtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, Germany (2005, 2012); SculptureCenter, New York, NY, USA (2007); Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA (2009); Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland (2009); Frac des Pays de la Loire, France (2009); Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany (2011); Centro de Arte Contemporaneo de Malága, Malága (2011); Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Germany (2012); Kunsthalle Mainz, Germany (2013); BALTIC Center for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK (2016); Berlinische Galerie, Berlin (2017); Belvedere 21, Vienna (2019): OGR Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Turin, Italy (2019); Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld (2021); Kunstmuseum Winterthur (2022); Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2022). Recent group exhibitions include Women House, La Monnaie de Paris, traveled to the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, USA (2018); The Street. Where the World Is Made, MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome (2018); States of Mind: Art and American Democracy, Moody Art Center for the Arts, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA (2020), There I Belong. Hammershøi by Elmgreen & Dragset, National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen (2020); Punto di equilibrio, MAXXI L’Aquila, Italy (2021); Minimalism-Maximalism-Mechanissmmm Act 1–Act 2, Art Sonje Center, Seoul (2022). Il giardino dell’arte, Centro Pecci, Prato (2022).