Still from Erin Shirreff, Medardo Rosso, Madame X, 1896, 2013; color HD video, silent; 24 minutes loop
Work by Erin Shirreff is featured in Medardo Rosso: Inventing Modern Sculpture at mumok Vienna. This presentation of sculptures, photographs, photocollages, and drawings provides a comprehensive retrospective into the oeuvre of artist, art theorist, and performance master Medardo Rosso (b. 1858, Turin; d. 1928, Milan). The exhibition delves into a thorough analysis of Rosso's processual and repetitive and radical anti-heroic approach, with which he defied all conventions of traditional sculpture.
A selection of works by artists directly or indirectly influenced by Rosso (including Shirreff) further unpacks and create a dialogue with his work. Shirreff created her 24-minute silent film “Medardo Rosso Madame X, 1896” (2013) by manipulating copies of an image of a sculpture by Rosso, then assembling them digitally in an entrancing alchemy of light and shape.
Medardo Rosso: Inventing Modern Sculpture is organized in close collaboration with the Medardo Rosso Estate, and will be presented at Kunstmuseum Basel from March to August 2025. To learn more, click here.